


Bitty Dreams and Bitty Nightmares

by YellowChimera332



Category: Bitty Bones-Fandom, Underfell - Fandom, Undertale
Genre: AU, Cherry - Freeform, Cherry gets hugs, Cherry likes to be pet, Edgy swears a lot, F/M, Fluff, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reader can sing, Reader contemplates life some times, Swearing, Underfell Sans, Underfell bitty, anxiety mentions, cuddle sans, cuteness, fear of loud noises, hints of past abuse, human reader, singing reader, slow growing friendship, sonophobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2019-05-19 14:32:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14875568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowChimera332/pseuds/YellowChimera332
Summary: Bitty adoption is ramping up worldwide. It's the new trend nowadays. So you hop on the trend... But, when you adopt your bitty, you begin to unravel the difficulties that are involved in having one. You knew that an Edgy bitty was already going to be hard to care for, taking their violent natures into account. But.. why does this one shy away from simple things? You reaching for them. Why do they cry out in their sleep, and what the heck are those strange markings on their bones?!





	1. Incoming Cherry

**Author's Note:**

> Kinda winging this story the whole time. Hope you guys like it. If you have any questions and want to know more you can find me at https: [My blog](//yellowchimera332.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Check out my beta reader at https: [My amazing editor](//decaf-ed-raccoon.tumblr.com/)

Well… I finally did it. I gave in and adopted my very own bitty. A skeleton bitty to be exact. He's so cute; he can fit right in the palm of my hand. 

Everyone has a bitty nowadays. Always posting pictures of their new bitty online, or talking about them. You've done your research and noticed all the different kinds of bitties there actually were. And now you were curious. What with not having a lot of company, and being in need of a little comfort buddy, a bitty was looking to be a good idea. And your mind had drifted to specifically the skeleton type bitties. And again, you were surprised at how many of these there really were.

It had been a tough choice. They were all so different, but cute in their own ways. But some others were considered “dangerous” like the Horror Sans bitty. The poor thing had a chunk of it skull missing! That made you feel sorry for the little guy. But at least he seemed healthy and fine. Though, he did have a terrifying habit of carrying around sharp objects to stab hands with just for fun. Needless to say, he wasn’t one of the most fan favorites.

There's Glitchy; or the Error bitty. The little guy had little to no attitude and only a handful of people could stand to put up with his tantrums. Especially when he'd string up everything in sight. God forbid he ever had a nervous breakdown, the small thing would glitch out of control. It was a very heartbreaking site. If only he would let people hold and help him, but that would just get yourself a little tied up as well, since most (almost all) don’t like physical contact from anyone, including themselves. The little guy just pulls at your heartstrings.

Then there's the all-time favorite, most bought, Baby Blue. Everyone loves those little guys, plump and energetic as all heck. All with a cute face and attitude for the whole family to enjoy! One of the smaller bitties in height to choose from. Sporting an oversized baby blue scarf to add to his image, always ready to help and serve without any questions asked. That naturally added to his big cuteness factor. Aside from the fact, his scarf was bigger than his head, making it seem like he had giant blue ears behind his little skull.

But, while they all seemed nice and all, some nicer than others, your heart settled on to one bitty. The little guy who sat furthest away from the rest. Literally. It was as if he was hiding... Either from you or from the other bitties. But you had still managed to spot him. And from just one glance, you knew that he was the one. The one you'd talk to when you felt lonely. The one to hold close while you walked. The one to cuddle with in bed for when he slept with you. He was... He was just perfect in every way.

“Lemme the fuck out! Hey, lady! Ya listenin’ to me!?”

Well… almost perfect.

You adopted an Edgy bitty. These types tend to get angry often, fighting over anything and everything. They had a foul mouth and slept most of their time away. You decided to name him Cherry. The name Cherry kinda came from the red turtleneck that they would wear underneath of their black jacket. Add to it as well that when they blushed, their faces would light up in a bright cherry red. And because you’re bad at naming things, you decided to call him that, unless he disliked the name.

You hadn't exactly known much about most of these things before you adopted him. And now that you were aware of the trouble he may cause, you were a bit weary. You would not take him back to the bitty center, however. That was way out of the question. But all the danger and issues he may cause…. made you feel uneasy.

“Hey! Lady, I know ya hear me! Take me out of this cage, let me out now!” He yells from the small carrier cage you held in your arms.

That was another thing. You noticed that most people treated their bitties as if they were actual pets. Like a normal dog, cat, or bird. But you didn’t believe that. Sure, they may be living and breathing like the standard pet, but bitties could think, act for themselves. So they should be treated as a normal person should be, not as a pet!

Even as you held those thoughts in your head, you still felt it safer to maybe wait until you got home to release Cherry from his prison. His yelling and struggling showed that if you did, he’d run the first chance he got, and you didn’t want that to happen.

“Are ya ignorin’ me or something!? I said lemme out!” He growls and bangs on the cage door in anger, in a futile attempt to escape.

You sigh. “I’ll let you out when we get to the house. Just calm down, you could hurt yourself.” You speak calmly, in hopes to quiet him down.

“Don't tell me what ta do! Now lemme outta here!” 

You hear a rather loud thump… or rather, a deafening crash? Probably him slamming himself against the cage door. Then it became silent. You continue to walk a little for a little further on, that is until the silence begins to disturb you. With your unease, you quickly take a seat on a wooden bench and peer inside the of the cage.

Cherry’s small frame was huddled in a corner of the small cage. He was cradling his hand to his chest and staring at his little, bare feet. His other hand was wrapped around his knees protectively. He had hurt himself, just like you warned him would happen.

You sigh quietly and set the cage in your lap. Then you begin to open the front in order to pick him up. You hear a confused noise come from the bitty inside. You tilt the cage up in case he was to try to run. This causes him to flop back and roll around due to the shift of balance. He manages to sit up just in time as your hand wraps around him carefully.

“H-hey! What are you doin!?” He cries out as he struggles in your gentle grasp. “Put me down, lady!” He growls and quickly moves to bite your finger. You swiftly shift to holding him by the hood of his jacket. This causes him to gasp and kick his legs in fear as he tries to huddle further into the coat, pulling his arms closer to his chest to prevent himself from slipping out.

“You really want me to let you go?” You ask as you make the motion, but not actually, to drop him on the concrete ground. As if you were going to let him go, that would most likely hurt him a lot. And no one wants that.

He quickly shakes his head. “No! Don't drop me! P-please.” His voice starts out loud, but it quickly dwindles down to a whimper-like whisper. Well, at least you had his attention now. So hopefully he’ll listen… right?

He carefully maneuvers his small body to rest into your hand, cupping your fingers as if he wanted to lie against them. He stayed in the center of your palm, avoiding any other unnecessary contact, continuing to cradle his left hand to the center of his chest quietly.

You stare down at him. “Let me see your hand.” You speak softly as to not scare him any further. His eyes snap up to you and his nervous expression switches back to that of a glare.

“No!”

“It hurts, doesn’t it?”

“No! I ain’t some delicate flower! Now leave me the fuck alone.” He grumbles as he now tries to play off the pain radiating from his hand.

You sigh. He obviously wasn’t going to let you look him over. So, you move to gently wrap your fingers around him to hold him and put him back into the cage. This causes him to flinch and squirm.

“What are ya doin!? Don’t put me back in there!” He shrieks as he tries to grab a hold on the side of the cage to prevent himself from being put back inside.

You quickly stop when he shows desperate attempts that didn’t seem natural. Most bitties didn’t have a problem being put into cages. Of course, they preferred to stay out of one, but if it was necessary, they’d usually allow themselves to be placed into of one. And it was now that you realize that he was also yelling when he was put into the cage, back at the bitty center.

“Do you not like small spaces?” You find yourself asking the small skeleton bitty in your grasp, turning your hand to an open palm to allow him room to move. You’d feel guilty if he had claustrophobia and you had forced him to stay inside there for so long.

He writhes a bit in your hand, hiding further into his jacket as he avoids your glance. “N... no.” He mumbles softly under his breath.

Oh, the heartbreak. He was definitely afraid of small spaces. How would you make up for something like this? Obviously, you weren’t going to put him back inside. You didn’t want him to feel even more terrified. So, you carefully cup your hand around him again.

“I’ll let you sit on the top up the cage if you’re comfortable with that. Only, if you promise not to run away.” You reason with him. He looks up at your face quietly. An eye socket squinted to express his confusion. “I want you to feel comfortable during the walk home.” You smile sweetly. “So, do we have a deal?”

Cherry’s eye sockets widen before he yanks his skull away from your gaze. You clearly notice the light shade of cherry flushing his cheekbones. He crosses his arms and muffles into his arms. “Sure… whatever.” He tries to play it off normally without embarrassing himself. You decided to let this slide since he’s clearly in some sort of grumpy mood.

So, with his response in mind, you set him down on the top of the container. Holding it to your chest, no longer holding the handle, you look down at him as he looks for something to hold on to before you start walking again. He eventually latches onto the handle you were once holding. His eyes drift up to you just as you start walking again. You keep the cage held to your chest to prevent it from moving too much, as to avoid the small bitty getting thrown around on top. The last thing you needed was for him to get sick from the constant tossing, or to make his hand worse.

You make a turn down the sidewalk, towards your house. The small bitty skeleton is again silent as he sits up on the roof of the cage. His little fingers were grasping as tightly as he could onto the handle. You were sure that if he had skin, his knuckles would be white. But at least he’s more comfortable now, because he’s stopped his shouting. So it must have been the cage being the issue, and not you. Either way, you were happy to appease the small one.

“The hell are we goin’?” The little one grumbles in confusion. His legs had now wrapped around the bar of the cage, clinging to it tightly. You stifle a laugh from the cute position.

“We’re going home.” You answer merrily. He groans in annoyance.

“I ain’t got a home, idiot.”

“Well, now you do. Now that I’ve adopted you and all.” You tell him with a light smile, but the expression only seemed to irritate him further.

His gaze turns away from you, now you could only see the back of his skull. “What makes ya think I wanna live with ya?” He growls.

You shrug. “Well, I know you guys don’t exactly click with most people, but I think maybe after a while of getting to know each other, it could be fun!” You try to make him smile. That was a failure.

“‘M not some Baby Blue, stupid. I ain’t ever gonna like ya. So why even bother... Yer just gonna take me back to the stupid bitty center a week from now cause ya don’t want me.” He murmurs softly into his chest.

You stare him down. “Don’t talk like that. You don’t know what I’ll do.” You speak sternly. You voice causes the small one to flinch. “This is why I’ll let you know now.” You stop and go up the stairs up to a white wooden door. “I’m going to open this door…” You pull out your keys which had been jingling at you hip the whole walk home. Picking out the correct key, you push it into the lock on the doorknob and turn it. You retract the key and push the door open. “I’m then going to step inside, close the door. Then show you where you’ll be staying… And I won’t take you back to the center unless you feel like you’re in too much danger that you can’t stay here.” You speak before thudding the door closed with your foot.

You hear the skeleton smack his teeth to your talking. How he could do that without lips, you’ll never know. You’ll probably attempt asking later, once you’ve gotten used to each other. Now that the door is closed, you gently set the cage onto a table in the center of the living room.

A three-person couch would be the first thing Cherry’s eyes land on in the home. He ignores the brown painted walls and wooden floor as he stares up at the pictures on your walls. Some were you with other people, probably friends, and family. He turns around to see a TV sitting on a large stand. A couple stacks of 6 movies or more sitting beside the black television, a few disks on the stand. He could hardly see the kitchen from his current position, and a hallway to some other doors could be seen.

He’s seen this scenery many times before. The hidden amazement was washed out of him, and his face only held a dull expression as he looked around for what he felt would make good hiding places. Under the couch would be too predictable. Perhaps under the TV stand, or in a cabinet. Maybe he could-

“Hey! The hell are ya doin’ now!?” He snaps at you as he’s carefully pick up again. You let him rest in the palm of your hand. His small body scoots back a bit and finds his spine hitting against your curled fingers, which were in place to keep him from falling to the ground. After turning to look behind him then staring back at your face, you spoke.

“I’m showing you around. Duh.” You say with a shake of your head before walking around the house. He was easily scared from the looks of things. You didn’t know whether to laugh or feel sorry for the small thing. But you want him to feel comfortable, so you spoke comforting words to him to attempt to help him relax.

And, luckily enough, it seemed to work.... mostly. He was still grumpy and refused to actually look at you directly, but he looked like he visibly relaxed for the most part. Which made you happy, at least put more at ease. It’d be weird for him not to be comfy since he’ll be living here... hopefully forever.

Cherry was mostly quiet during the tiny tour of your small, one bedroom apartment. It wasn’t exactly small, as it was for just one person. But even with an extra living being staying with you, you highly doubt it would be cramped. With how small Cherry is, there’s no possible way he can take up that much space. 

Of course, you had to consider the fact that even though he small, he’s still alive, with feelings and all that jazz. Maybe he would want some space to himself. There’s even the likely possibility that he wouldn’t feel comfortable staying where ever you… decide to… put him. 

How have you not thought of this before! You had no idea where the little guy is going to sleep! That’s an important necessity besides eating and bathing! Well, it’s already looking like this little guy’s time here is gonna be rough, and you’re already starting to feel like a terrible person, nothing has even happened yet! Way to go, you. 

“Do ya got any food…?” The little bitty speaks up in the midst of your mid-life crisis. This causes you to blink and look down at him. 

“I’m sorry, what?” You question him, slightly dazed by the sudden sentence from him considering he’s been silent the whole time.

“Food! Do ya have any?” He speaks louder, a scowl appearing on his face as he turns his head up to glare at you. 

“Oh yeah. Anything in particular you want? I have some leftover meatloaf, bologna for sandwiches, some Frito chips-”

“Fuckin hell, ya got shit fer food!” He cuts you off mid-sentence. His sudden snap causes you to stare at him dumbfounded. 

“Excuse me?”

“I said yer diet is shit.”

“Well… I’m alive aren’t I?” 

“Alive ‘n’ livin are two different things.”

Why… is this bitty causing you to contemplate your life decisions? Granted, your meals weren’t 4 coursed, but you aren’t crawling through trash cans to survive either. Who is he to say what is and isn’t good food?

“Well, what do you think is good food then?” You ask him back. There, let's see his opinion so you could shoot that one down! Let’s see who’s food preferences are better! That’ll teach him! Hah!

“Hamburgers.” 

Damn. Burgers are pretty good actually. Aside from vegetarians, who doesn’t love a good burger?! But you gotta give him credit, at least he has a good choice in food, for a bitty at least.

“I’ll side with you on that, burgers are good.” You shrug with a smile as you walk towards the kitchen. Guess you know what you’re making for dinner tonight! You were going to originally just going to use that ground beef to make more meatloaf. A mundane meal, but hey! You like what you like! You suppose that burgers were as good an option as any. After all, a good burger with some cheese, little onion and a couple of pickles was kinda calling your name now that you thought about it. That and the bitty would like it. First impressions were very important!

He gives a small shrug. “Wouldn't know... Never had any of ‘em befer.” He murmurs the last part to himself.


	2. Bath Time Bitty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did you know Edgy's secretly like baths?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to https:[My amazing editor](//decaf-ed-raccoon.tumblr.com/)
> 
> If you have any questions, or just want to interact with Cherry, you can find me at https:[My blog](//yellowchimera332.tumblr.com/)

_He gives a small shrug. “Wouldn't know... Never had any of ‘em befer.” He murmurs the last part to himself._

 

You set him onto the counter beside the sink. “Really? Then how do you even know they taste good?”

 

“Heard ‘round the bitty center that they were good.”

 

You hum to yourself as you withdraw the unfrozen meat from the fridge. “Then I guess we’re gonna have to change that then!” You smile to the little skeleton. You set the packaged, pre-defrosted, beef onto the counter beside him as you grab vegetables and a cutting board.

 

“W-what? Seriously? Yer gonna make burgers just cause I ain’t had one before?” He stands up onto his feet and takes a couple steps across the counter, looking to the packaged meat then staring at you.

 

“Of course! If you’re going to live here, I want you to enjoy and try new food. So if you never had a good burger before, I want you to try one and see if you like it. If you do, it adds more options for you, and me, to choose from.” You tell him as you’re cutting an onion in half.

 

Perplexed, he shakes his head. “W-why would ya do that? Yer just gonna take me back to the center.” He crossed his arms and looked away from you to the knob on the sink.

 

You turn around and cross your open arms, the knife poking out from under your arm. “Hey. What did I say when we walked in here? I won’t take you back unless you personally think you’re not safe here. And hopefully, I haven’t done anything to make you think you’re in any kind of danger.” You pull the knife out from under your arm. “So quit saying that.” You point the knife at him in emphasis.

 

He flinches back from the final action and takes a few steps away. “S-sorry..”

  
He glances at the knife and quickly you drop it away from him. You hoped you didn’t just make him think he needs to be afraid of you. Damn it, what if other humans threatened him with a knife before? What if someone hurt him with a knife!? Does he have any cuts!? You now had the strong, protective urge to inspect his white bones for any scars or violent injuries.

 

You turn around in your spot in the kitchen. You felt a little nervous that you may have frightened him. His response definitely didn’t help your suspicions either. His apology definitely sounded as if he was afraid of you.

 

After cutting up enough union, you wrap the other half into some plastic wrap and place it into the fridge, same with the pickles. You look over your shoulder to check on Cherry.

 

The small bitty was sitting with his legs crossed, staring at the meat on the counter. He was reading the texted printed on the paper of the wrapper on the meat. He had to tilt his little skull to the side slightly to read the angled text. But he managed to get by nonetheless.

You set your knife down to pick up the meat and unwrap it, then to place it into the bowl. Cherry watched quietly as you tore the meat into pieces and placed them into a bowl. When his expression showed confusion, you spoke.

 

“What?”

 

“Why are ya doin’ that?”

 

“Doing what?”

 

“Tearin’ it up like that. Thought burgers were supposed ta be circular.” He draws a circle in the air with his finger to make his point.

 

“I measured how big they should be. I don’t think you can eat a humanly sized cheeseburger.” You let out a soft giggle before a thought strikes you. “Can you?”

 

“No, I can’t. The fuck makes ya think I can eat somethin’ twice my size?” He sasses you with a cross of his arms, and half-opened eye sockets. The little guy sure delivers a big package.

 

You nod slowly. “They are.. Tearing it up like this helps me “How am I supposed to know how much you can eat and can’t eat!? Don’t judge me!” You reply with a slightly annoyed puff of your cheeks. Then you grab a small handful of the ground beef, roll it into a ball, before smashing into a flat burger shape. After doing that about two more times, you look over to Cherry.

“What?” he says.

 

“Get over here please, I can’t make burgers to the size that fits you, you’ll have to do it yourself.” You explain to him as you wave your hands towards yourself. You then grab another small handful of the raw meat.

 

The other hesitates for a second before standing once again and walking over towards you. You had set a napkin down for Cherry, for when he was finished. He stood just above the bowl’s height to reach in and grab some of the beef.

 

“Do I just…?” He seemed nervous. His hands rest on the edge of the bowl’s rim, with him peering over it to watch you work.

 

“Just grab a few chunks, roll them into a ball, then flatten it out. Like this.” You speak as you repeat the instructions you just spoke, this time acting on them. Once you flatten the meat, you place it on a tray with the others to be set aside to be pan fried.

 

“That’s it?” He asks, the tips of his fingers scraped against the edge of the bowl, lightly scratching into the plastic.

 

“Yup! And I’ll do the hard part.” You say as you roll another piece of beef between your hands.

 

“Ya mean this ain’t the hard part?” He says, retracting his hands from the plastic to remove the small jacket that he was wearing, tossing it onto the table to avoid it getting dirty.

 

“No. The hard part is cooking it.” You point to the stove oven. “Burgers can get really greasy, so it likes to spit at you. And it kinda burns.” You say and glance to the little skeleton who had grabbed some of the ground beef in his little hands while you had your back turned.

 

“Then learn ta pay attention.” He mumbles as he gently squishes the small meatball into a burger. “Put a cover on is er somethin.” He says and looks around for where to set his little burger.

 

“I can’t exactly flip them with a lid on, now can I? Smartypants.” You say as you extend your hand towards him to take the small patty from him.

 

He flinches away from your hand, taking a few steps back before it dawns on him what you were trying to do. He sets the beef patty on to your open hand before he looks away from you with a scowl plastered on his face.

 

“You only want one?” You ask as you set the significantly smaller burger aside with the others you had already made.

 

He crosses his arms and turns to face away from you. You blink in confusion from the reaction. You hadn’t done anything wrong, had you? You don’t recall upsetting him. Was he mad at himself?... He did freak out when you moved to take the patty from him. You found it very disturbing how he reacts over the little things you do. Just what happened to your poor Cherry before you adopted him? Did you say your poor Cherry? Well… you did kinda adopt him. But…. he’s not property so…. No time to think about that right now.

 

You decided to try your best at making smaller patties for Cherry. You want him to have more than enough food to eat. You were aware that just one burger wasn’t going to be enough, even if he was this small. So you tried your best two make 2 more burgers for the little bitty.

 

Once the bowl was empty and all that remained were little scraps of the meat, as well as drips of the meat juice, you put the bowl into the sink to soak in the warm, soapy water. Then you washed your hands and look to Cherry.

 

“Make sure to clean your hands with that napkin.” You remind him. He was still sitting on the white paper towel. You see his skull visibly dip lower, as if to look at it. You watched him move to it, he was probably wiping his hands off on it.

 

After getting the burgers cooked up, you took it upon yourself to show your new buddy how to work the TV, more specifically, to watch Meshflix. He was characteristically quiet as you showed him how to scroll through the wide selection of movies and shows that the service offered.

 

Though you soon realized that you may have made a “bad” decision. When you went back into the kitchen to finish up the final touches on the burgers, you heard laughter, and lots and lots… of bad puns. But the laughter was mostly coming from Cherry, rather than the actors on the television. Your cuteness senses tingled, and you peeked out into the living room.

 

Cherry had a huge grin on his face. His sockets closed in his laughter. His sharp teeth gaping as his mouth opened. A cherry red spread evenly over his face. He was also hunched forward, his hand grabbing as the rim of his shorts.

 

Well, guess you’ll have to deal with it. If he keeps looking that adorable when he laughs, you’ll tolerate even the terrible jokes. As best as you can, that is. ‘Cause some were so, very bad. A little too bad to even laugh at. Yet Cherry was laughing up a storm as if this random twat was the greatest comedian in the entire universe.

 

Laying down the final piece of cheese on the last burger, you set them all aside. You set up your burger with all your cut up vegetables before heading over to Cherry. “Hey, come on and make your plate. Dinner’s ready.” You tell him.

 

He had stopped mid-laugh when you spoke. After looking up to see what you wanted, he looked to the remote and pressed pause on his show. “Whatever.” He says.

 

You turn and head back into the kitchen. You end up doing a double take when you spot Cherry already standing beside the burgers, staring at the extra ones you had made just for him... Wasn’t he just in the living room only a few seconds ago? Then how in the world is he in the kitchen!? There’s no possible way!

 

“How did you get all the way over there?” You ask, pointing your finger at him in his new location with an eyebrow raised in confusion. He turns his head to look up at you.

 

“Ya brought me here, dumbass.” He says and looks back down at the food, he picks up one burger to inspect, one that he assumed he had made.

 

“No I mean…. never mind.” You sigh and walk over to grab a plate for him. It was big enough for him to sit on and eat his food, you hadn't gotten all the bitty sized items you needed for him just yet. You had only gotten the bitty itself, a few spare sets of clothes.

 

Cherry stares at you quietly, holding the burger in his little hands. He watches as you set the plate aside a separate table along with another, then set your already made burger onto it. He watches as you turn back to look at him. Great! Now you’re both awkwardly staring at each other.

 

“What!?” He snarls after a few seconds, the awkwardness finally starting to get to him.

 

“I just didn’t want to scare you.” You start.

 

“I ain’t scared’a shit!” He snaps, cutting you off with a glare. Though to others, it would appear more like a pout.

 

You warmly smile at him. “Alright then.” You say and move towards your fridge. “Do you want anything on your burger?” You ask him, rummaging around for the condiments you normally kept stock of.

 

“No.” He says.

 

“You sure, I’ve got some nice add-ons. Got some ketchup, pickles, must-” You went quiet when you pulled away from the fridge and found your bitty was gone. You turn your head and see him standing near where you had set the plates. “How are you doing that?”

 

“Doin’ what?” Cherry grumbles. He looks up to you, the bunless burger still held in his hands. You didn’t have bread to make buns, so you suppose he’ll have to eat it as is for the most part.

 

“That table is at least a foot away from the counter. There’s no way you jumped it.” You say as you set the red and yellow bottles onto the counter, closing the fridge with your foot.

 

“Took a shortcut.” He answers as his eyes fall onto the condiment bottles. “What’re those?” He asks, pointing towards them.

 

You turn your head to the colored containers holding the yellow and red liquids. “That’s ketchup,” you gesture to the red bottle, then point at the yellow. “And that’s mustard.”

 

“What's it fer?”

 

“Making food taste better. If it tastes bland or something, you can put some on it. Or sometimes certain foods taste better with a condiment. Like ketchup going with french fries.” You vaguely explain. “Or for me, onions, pickles, and mustard on my burger.” You smile. Many people have said that it's disgusting, but each to their own you suppose.

 

“Oh..” That’s all he answers with.

 

“Do you want to try any?” You ask.

 

“.. mustard.”

 

You nod and pick up the yellow bottle. You motion for him to set the burger onto the plate as you shake the contents inside of the yellow plastic cylinder. Once you thought it fit to stop, you place a small dot onto the mini-burger.

 

“More.” He says.

 

“More? But it’ll spill over your burger.” You try to explain.

 

“Just…. Do it?” He mumbles, staring at the wood pattern ingrained on the table he stood on, his arms crossed.

 

You give a slight sigh and do as he asks, squirting more of the yellow liquid onto the meat slab. As you expected, it overflows and falls onto the plate that it sat on. You stop once again as he finally seems content. You watch as he takes his bare hands into the mustardy pile, pulling the dripping burger out of the confinements of the liquid and takes a huge bite.

 

You sigh softly as you watch the mustard splash all over his clothes, hands, and face. It was quick to stain his shirt and drip down his face. He looked away from him when he pulled his shirt sleeve up to wipe his face, only to take another bite and dirty his face right back up a few moments later. At least he seemed to be enjoying his food.

 

You take your burger and sit at the table as you take a bite of your onion, pickle, and mustardy goodness. You smile to the delicious taste and look over towards Cherry. You roll your eyes when you discover that he’s now only half finished with the entire front of his face covered in mustard.

 

The yellow liquid on his hands has slipped down his wrists and arms, dripping off his elbows and onto the plate. The mustard on his mouth had dribbled down his chin and neck, most likely under his shirt and onto his bones there as well. This was definitely a mess. He’s for sure going to need a bath after this.

 

After that disgusting experience of learning exactly how much of a sloppy eater your new bitty was, you now are learning that the idea of a bath does not agree well with him. As you held the dirty and mustard covered bitty in your hands, he yelled, swore, and bit you to try and evade the current actions you were trying to enact.

 

The squirming, yelling and swearing you had grown used to by now. It was the biting that hurt, not the insults he screamed at the top of his lungs. His teeth were small but sharp. They pierced your skin very easily and drew blood. He had bitten you at least twice. So now you had at least six small holes with blood oozing through. Thankfully, they’re still small teeth, so they weren’t anything to be concerned about, health-wise.

 

“Lemme go! I ain’t takin some stupid fuckin’ bath!” He yells as he’s carried into the bathroom.

 

The room was small. It contained the basic things a bathroom normally had. Shower/tub combo, sink, mirror, and a toilet. It was small, but not too small to the point you feel you couldn’t breathe.

 

You had luckily thought about buying a bitty bathtub during your prep shopping before adopting the bitty. It was the perfect size to sit even the largest of bitties inside and bathe. The only problem now was getting the bitty undressed and into the warm, soapy water you had already set up. You know well that he’s not going to take those clothes off without a fight. And as much as you want to give him a bath, you would like to try and do it with as few wounds as possible.

 

“Yes, you are. You’re completely filthy! And you can forget about staying in those clothes! Now let’s make this easier for the both of us and just comply.” You say as you move to set him on the counter beside the sink, ready to grab him if he tries to run or jump off.

 

“No! I don’t want’cher gross human hands touchin’ me! And I don’t wantcha lookin’ at me either!” He growls with a glare directed at you. His arms…. Eww, they cross over the mustard stain that covers his chest.

 

“Well, you need to be cleaned. And I’m the only one that can get the soap to actually clean you and the cloth is too big for you to do it yourself.” You say, crossing your arms. “I’m not going to hurt you if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

 

“I ain’t scared of nothin’!” He snarls, his arms dropping to his sides in his anger, hands clenching into little fists. His browbones furrowing into a tight glare as he stares at you.

 

“Then why are you being so stubborn with this?” You sigh, rubbing the bridge of your nose.

 

“So yer comfortable strippin’ in fronta some random person ‘n’ lettin them clean ya? Yer a freak.” He shoves his hands into his pockets.

 

“I…. n-no.” You sputter, dropping your hand from your face and lightly nibbling the inside of your cheek. You remind yourself that you need to try and see things from his perspective. Like you kept telling yourself, he’s not just some pet, one that can’t talk back.. He’s not some object to tote around like some lap dog. He’s.. He’s not a pet to command and use. He’s _sentient_. He has emotions. He has abilities. Cherry has life!

 

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t try to force something onto you that you’re uncomfortable with. I wouldn’t like it if I was in your shoes.” You say to him, still wearing an apologetic expression.

 

“W-well yeah. Ya can’t jus’ expect me ta fuckin’ do shit ya say. ‘M not yer fuckin slave er some shit.” He grumbles, his glare dropping to a neutral expression. He looks off to the side.

 

You sigh and clasp your hands together. “Yes but… Can we both still agree that you’re kinda filthy and really need to get cleaned up? Just this once, allow me to clean you. And then I’ll personally make you have clothes and towels that you can take a bath with without feeling uncomfortable.” You offer sincerely, looking him in his eye... sockets.

 

His eyes twitch into a glare again towards the filthy comment. But you watch his bony face morph into confusion once the final sentence sinks in. “Y… ya’d really do that? Seriously?” He asks.  


“Yeah. That way we both get what we want. You get clean, and you get to do it by yourself. _That and bitty items are expensive as hell_ …” You mumble the final part to yourself, regardless of how true it was. Cherry doesn’t need to know that...

 

Mister grumpy bitty seems to be thinking over his options because even he knew that sleeping with all this mustard on was not going to be enjoyable. At least he’s aware of the issue. After thoroughly weighing his choices, he lets out a grumbly sigh.

 

“Fine.”

 

You let out a breath of relief. “Good. Okay, I’ll go get your spare clothes while you take those off and just hop into the little tub. I’ll be back in a bit.” You say as you shuffle yourself out of the bathroom to grab the clean spare turtleneck and gym shorts combo for your bitty.

 

**\---**

 

Cherry growls in annoyance once you’re out of sight. “‘Take those off and hop in the tub’.” He mocks you with a high-pitched, squeaky voice. “...Says the dumb ass that ain’t in this fuckin’ position.” He grabs the hem of his shirt and yanks if off and over his skull. Cherry ignores the yellow liquid splattered across his bones. “Let’s see how ya like it if someone were ta force ya inta a damn bath.” He throws the yellow stained cloth on top of the sink. It makes a cartoonish splat sound due to the mustard slathering it.

 

He hesitates when grabbing the edge of his shorts, but eventually manages to tug them down. When he’s completely bare, he runs over to the tub and hops in. He’s thankful for the bubbles that had settled on the surface of the water.

 

Cherry’s instantly taken aback at the comfort. The warmth of the water almost seemed to welcome him to sink further in, to relax. The coconut scented soap somehow seemed to lower him into a sense of… safety? His aching and tense bones loosening, his sore spots melting away into nothingness. When was the last time he ever allowed himself to unwind, if ever?

 

**\---**

 

When the human enters the bathroom again, she finds her bitty relaxing against the rim of the tub. His little grumpy eye sockets were closed, his arms crossed against his chest. He was mostly hiding among the bubbles inside the tub, only his second row of ribs and up could be seen out of the water.

 

You set the spare bitty clothes somewhere safe from the water, even putting a towel on top of them for extra measure.

 

Turning back around, you find Cherry’s cold glare, his arms still tightly crossed over his chest. He even seemed to have sunk further into the bubbles. Some of the mustard seemed to have washed off from the water alone. The yellow-tinted bubbles and little flecks of it floating condiment were the reasons of this thought.

 

You grab a small stool to sit on, then reach to grab a small washcloth to signify that it’s time to commence the scrubbing of the small skeleton. But Cherry doesn’t move, he just sits in the water and glares up at you. You reach over for the soap that you’ll be using to wash him, also another sign that he should probably sit up. But no, he doesn’t move this time either.

 

You drum your fingers on the sink a few times. “I’m ready.” You say to him. Maybe a verbal reminder would help.

 

“So?” He snaps at you. You sigh. Apparently not.

 

“I know, this is probably really awkward for you but… The longer you sit there and try to avoid this, the longer we’ll be here. It’s better to just get it over with.” You voice, propping your head on your palm, squishing your face a bit as you stare at him.

 

“Oh right, ‘cause yer the one that likes ta be cleaned by freaky weirdos.” Cherry crossed his little arms, glare multiplying in intensity. You groan and slump your head forward slightly. It’s like talking at a brick wall with this guy.

 

“Don’t try ta spread yer freaky fetishes onta me, alright.” He grumbled and sunk further into the water, the scent of the water flooding his sense of smell as the scent went past his clavicle. The tops of his knees, neck, and skull being the only parts of his body visible above the yellow stained fizz.

 

You lift your head back up to him, raising an eyebrow at him. “I’m… Slightly concerned by the fact that you know what... That word means.” You straighten your back. “How do you know what that word means?” You then question.

 

“Creepy weirdos go inta the bitty store all da time,” he mumbles and looks down, clenching his teeth. The bubbles slowly start to drift away from his face as he exhales.

 

“Yes, but even so, I don’t think people are openly defining the word fetish, especially not full grown adults.” You sit back, in slight disbelief of him.

 

“Well…. ‘S none of yer business how I know.” He snarls in return, a heavy scowl on his face.

 

You cross your arms on top of the sink and leaned towards him, the coconut smell getting stronger. “You know the more you refuse to tell me, the more worried I get.” You explain to the tiny skeleton.

 

“I don’t give a shit if yer worried! Yer jus’ gonna take me back anyway, so it doesn’ even matter.” He muttered and lowered further into the water, his skull the only thing exposed to the air.

 

You sigh. “I told you already, I’m not going to take you back. Not unless you really want me to.” You start, using your pointer finger to tap the sink for emphasis on each word. “I have the full intent of letting you stay here for as long as you want, and I’m holding true to that. No matter how much you swear, complain, or call me a creepy weirdo for wanting you to take a bath.” You say, trying to reassure him that you were in for the long haul.

 

He growls and slowly pushed himself out of the water, just the first two rows of lower ribs remain submerged under the water. His ribcage, arms, and neck being covered in the scented bubbles. “Fine, just… don’t be creepy with yer hands.” He commands, staring up at your face. “I ain’t scared ta bite you.”

 

“I’m very aware of that.” You say and pull the rag up. “I’ll try not to be ‘creepy’. I’m going to mostly clean around your face and around your chest, where most of that mustard got. I’m sure the water took care of everything else.” You say, mostly to yourself at this point.

 

He rolled the red eyelights that resembled eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He growls and continued to hold his arms over his chest, not exactly knowing what to really do with them.

 

The task of cleaning the small Edgy bitty, was honestly not as difficult as you initially thought it would be. Sure, he squirmed a bit due to him being uncomfortable. He also growled and snapped at you for apparently touching him in weird places, which you apologized for, before continuing on. He also swore, and he even tried to bite you once or twice. Luckily the cloth of the small hand towel blocked the more painful part of his bite, so you only felt the small nubby points’ attempt to kill you.

 

...

 

Okay, so maybe it was a little... Difficult. But at least he wasn’t like a dog, who always tried to jump away and run. So there’s that! He actually just sat in the tub and... Kinda let you do your thing. Of course, he complained and growled, but he still didn’t stop you, unless you consider biting to be trying to stop you...

 

You smile when you finally managed to complete this task. It’s almost like a video game quest. It sounds easy, but actually doing it is a lot more difficult than you would anticipate. But you still got it done nonetheless.

 

Now came time to rinse the soap off of his bones. The sweet smell of the soap overlayed the bitty as the foam clung onto his nice clean bones. No nasty mustard in site!

 

You carefully stuck your hand into the water to lift him up. He flinched to the contact and growled, the sound he makes to warn you before he bites. You just plop the hand towel across his legs and your exposed fingers before he could try to lay a tooth on you.

 

You hold him in your hands as you place him in the sink to wash the suds off of his, hopefully, pearly white bones. He looks around frantically in confusion, his sockets widened. His small sharp claws gripped at the wet fabric of the hand towel. His eye pings, it looks like he was gonna do that thing that the Sansy bitties could do. A shortcut, you think it’s called.

 

“You okay?” You ask, trying to calm him down before he made this small situation worse with his struggles.

 

“The fuck are ya tryin ta do?” He snarled, squirming in your cupped hands.

 

“I’m just gonna turn on the sink. It won’t be too fast, just to wash the soap off.” You say, reaching for the handle to turn the water on.

 

“Do ya have ta hold me for that shit? Why can’t I do it myself? Quit bein’ a creepy fuckin’ weirdo.” he grumbled, glaring up at you. Oh wait, that’s not a glare, that’s just his face.

 

“I am not being weird. I’m just rinsing you off.” You roll your eyes, for like the umpteenth time today. He’s being extremely hard to work with, _again_.

 

“All I gotta do is stand under the stupid water, lemme do it by myself!” He argues, crossing his little arms.

 

You sigh. These bath times aren’t all going to be this tedious, right? Well, until you get those miniature washcloths made for him.  
“Alright. If that’s what’ll make you feel comfortable.” You say, while carefully shifting him in the sink to stand under the faucet. “Towel is right here to dry off, your clothes are right beside it. If you need me, just call for me.” You say, your hand moving to pat the fabrics before pulling your hand back after realizing how wet and soapy they were.

 

“Yeah yeah, whatever. Fine. Just go.” Grouchy edgelord huffs at you.

 

Another sigh from you. “Alright, I guess I’ll let you take care of that.” You say and turn your back to the bitty and exit the bathroom, leaving the door cracked in case he called for you. You quickly poke back in to grab the dirty mustard covered clothes before leaving again. Once you took care of that, you began to once again stress out about where this little guy was going to sleep! You still haven’t thought of anything! What the hell, you!?

 

**\---**

The bitty watches you walk out of the bathroom, watching the door close almost completely. It was still opened, just a crack.

The soapy bubbles had started popping and sliding down his bones as he sat in the sink. His red eye lights stare up at the large faucet above him that’ll spray water to him once he turns it on. He chews on the inside of his cheek with an annoyed growl.

 

“Fuckin’ water..” He grumbles and looks to the two knobs on each side of the pipe. He glares at them both intensely. With his current angle, he had no idea which knob was hot or cold. So he... had a 50/50 chance at getting warm water.

 

Maybe he could just use the towel and wipe off the soap that way. Yeah! No stress, no worry! He doesn’t need to get wet again, and he gets clean. Win-win situation! With a huff of victory and smirk, he shortcuts himself onto the edge of the sink.

 

“Fuck you, sink.” He growls and bares his teeth, flipping off the shallow bowl as if it were a living creature and not an inanimate object. When dropping his hand and taking his first step forward, his foot slips... Apparently, some soapy water had dripped off of him, and his small slick body ends up slipping right back into the the ‘tub’. He bares his teeth at the nozzle that was now staring down at him, a small drop of water started to drip out of the faucet, as if on cue. Out it came, falling on his head with a dull PLINK.

 

He grumbles in frustration, rubbing his sore arm. It hurt from falling into the sink, which wasn’t exactly a soft surface. He gets to his feet, careful not to trip himself again. Cherry firmly plants his feet against the porcelain of the sink to prevent any chance of him falling again.

 

Wincing from another ache, he retracts his hand from his left arm when the soreness turned into a light burning sensation. He sees his hand is a diluted pink. Blood mixed with the soap. He sighs and looks up at the tap of the dreaded sink.

 

“Didn’t mean ta open it again…” He mutters to himself and stares intently at one of the plastic knobs. He’ll have to rinse off now to prevent blood staining his clean clothes. Then the human will worry, or worse, be mad. Ruining his new clothes the first day he’s here, of course, she’d get pissed. Furious even? Those little clothes were damn expensive! She probably doesn’t know how to get blood stains out of clothes. He doesn’t want to risk that. She’s nice now, but that can easily change. Cherry knows this.

 

He continues looking up at the knob on the left side of the tap. Squinting his sockets together tightly as the knob slowly turns from his little flicker of magic. Water starts to drip and lightly pour from the tap above him. He yelps when it touches his bare bones. His spine arches uncomfortably.

 

Freezing.

 

He snarls and turns his attention to the other knob and turns that one with his bitty magic as well, a light bead of sweat forming on his skull, it was quickly washed off of his skull due to the running water. The knob slowly rotated onto a faster power, slowly morphing the cold water into a nice warm. Sighing in relief, he carefully steps under the steady stream of water and let the liquid wash off the suds clinging to his now clean bones, as well as the blood, from the re-cracked arm.

 

Once he finds himself just standing under the soothing water, completely free of soap and blood, he pushes the levers to the off position with his magic. He takes another shortcut to the counter’s edge. He’s careful to avoid any slippery spots on the smooth surface as he walks over to the towel laid out for him. It’s a normal human hand towel, so it’s pretty big to him. Even with its size, it gets the job done, so he’s not complaining. Once his coconut smelling bones are dry, he tugs on his new clothes. They were warm and fluffy. He liked that.

 

He looks at a splat of mustard on the counter surface that came from his clothes. He crossed his arms with a huff and his eyelights flick to the ever so slightly ajar door. He thought this was stupid.

 

He walks across the flat surface of the counter of the sink. Once to the edge, he looks down to see how high he was. He took a step back from the first glance before leaning forward. Too high for him to shortcut to the floor. He looked around and spotted the top of the toilet. Thankfully the lid was down, could he make it there?

 

Perhaps.

 

**\---**

 

After grabbing some old, soft blankets from your closet, you finally managed to set up some weird bed-like thing on the couch for Cherry. All it really was, was a couch pillow with a bed sheet on top surrounded by your plushiest blankets. You were hoping the bitty would find it comfortable to sleep on because you were fairly sure that he wouldn't want to sleep in the same room as you Even despite the fact that bitties are intended to sleep on their owners.

 

You turn your head to the hallway where the door to the bathroom stood open. He hasn’t called for you at all. Then again, he seems to have the pride of most men, so he may not even ask for help…… Was he even loud enough for you to hear from out of the room? Does he even know your name!? How would he even call for you!? Creepy human?

 

…

 

Okay, maybe that’s how. Or he’d use some other vulgar language to describe you to yourself. Like stupid human, dumbass. Dumbass human. Yeah, he’d probably call you something along those lines.

 

Regardless of names, you find yourself walking forward to the door. Is it considered peeping if you look in on a bitty? He’s technically naked. And he does seem to feel embarrassed when he doesn’t have any clothes on... But he’s just pure bones... Maybe it is considered peeping. Though, this isn’t the bad kind for your enjoyment! It’s the helpful kind because you’re making sure your new bitty is okay.

 

You poked your head through the open door to see around the room. The sink is empty, and his clothes are gone. So, that means he’s changed, right? Why else would they be gone? It’s the only thing that makes sense. Which means you can safely walk inside.

 

Pushing the door open fully, you manage to walk in just in time to see Cherry poof on to the top of the toilet and slip off from the edge. His arms flailed to keep himself balanced, but it was in vain as he falls back, about to hit the hard ground.

 

You quickly lunge forwards to catch the little skeleton in your hands before he hits the cold tiles of the bathroom floor. He’s still a little wet, probably didn’t dry himself off completely. Wait, is that sweat? Skeleton bitties can sweat? Weird.

 

You pull your hands up close to your chest and look to the panting bitty. Looks like he thought he was going to die. Poor thing, he looks downright petrified. Those eye lights were hazy and bright with fright.

“Are you okay, Cherry?” You ask him in a calming voice to help try to ease him back into reality. I guess to a bitty, the toilet is kinda high. Wonder how high that is in bitty height. No, no time to think about that, back to the scared anger bones.

 

The bitty soon calms down, his eye sockets somehow blinking and the eye lights returned back to the normal brightness. His breathing slowed and he seemed confused as he was looking up at your worried expression. His face showed brief disbelief, like he hadn’t expected you to catch him. But he quickly masked it by changing his expression back to his glare. Good to know that’s not the only expression he can show, at least.

 

“The hell d’ya want?!” He snaps as if nothing had just happened. He averted his sockets. “The hell ya got me so close for.” He growls, staring at the creases in your palms.

 

You sigh and pull him away from your chest. You sit on the rim of the tub, looking at the bitty in your hands. “Are you okay?” You ask him again.

 

“Yeah. The hell ya think I am, a stupid baby blue? All I did was fuckin’ fall, ya didn’t have ta fuckin’ catch me. Ya threatened ta drop me on da way here anyway, so I don’t fuckin’ care.” He snarls with each word with venom, every single swear laced with malice as he spat them at you.

 

Oh yeah, you did do that, didn’t you? Well, you didn’t ‘threaten’ to drop him, it was only a joke! Because you were holding him and he told you to put him down!.. Even so, that was really, really wrong. You hadn’t even realized how scared he might have been at that current moment. Would you like it if someone was dangling you and said they’d drop you? No. Damn, you’re a horrible caretaker and it hasn’t even been a whole day yet. How many more times can you screw this up today?... You may or may not want the answer to that question.

 

You give a heavy sigh. “Look, I-”

 

“Just lemme go, ya overgrown asshole.” He grumbled, staring down at your hands.

 

You stand up and slowly walk out of the bathroom towards the living room. Before you give him the chance to complain about not being let go yet, you plop his little itty bitty butt on the makeshift bed you made him. He sunk into the blankets slightly and his head turned as he scanned the couch. He turns fully to face you, his face morphed in the way a human’s would when confused. What with the squint of an eye(socket) and arching of an eyebr-... bone brow? Browbone?

 

“The hell is this supposed ta be?”

“Your bed. I took it upon myself to think you wouldn't want to sleep with a ‘creepy weirdo human’ so I made this.” You say with a small smile that was brimming with pride.

 

He growls softly. You haven’t even done anything, is he just naturally angry? “Ya know bitties sleep on people, right?”

 

You hum and cross your arms. “So are you saying you want to sleep with me?”

 

“Hell no!” He responds with wide eyesockets. It was as if he didn’t expect you to respond with that.

 

“Then there we go. Problem avoided.” You say and take a seat next to his bed. “How do you like it?”

 

He doesn’t respond right away. You watch him as he shifts around on the cloth slightly and pats it with his hands carefully, scouting out the give of it.

  
“‘s… not the shittiest thing I’ve slept on…” He mutters, avoiding your gaze. His mouth (… teeth?) opens slightly then stretches wider. Aww, he totally just yawned!

 

You smile a bit. “Well, I guess this is the cue for bedtime.” You say and stand up to turn off the lights in the kitchen. You’ll do those dishes later.. For sure.

 

“Whatever..” Cherry mutters as he curls up on the soft bed sheet. Snuggling into the warmth, his eyesockets drift shut.

 

You stand there for a few seconds, just watching him. You smile a bit. Is this a good thing to smile about? He seems to have trusted you enough to fall asleep near you. Yeah, it’s a good thing to smile over.

 

“The fuck are ya smilin’ at!” A voice chimed in the semi-darkness.  


Crap, he’s still awake. You blink. 

“Sorry!” You say and quickly leave the room. Okay, maybe you shouldn’t have stared and smiled. Now you definitely look like a creepy weirdo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long ass wait........ I'm terrible. I know. ^^'
> 
> But I started on chapter 3! So hurray to that!


	3. Smashing Mornings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edgy instincts are hard to work around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to my editor: [My amazing editor](//decaf-ed-raccoon.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Any questions, find me at: https:[My blog](//yellowchimera332.tumblr.com/)

Your first day with the bitty could have gone better. Like, a lot better. Probably at least ten times better. You’re pretty sure that you not only made him hate you more, but also made him disgusted to even be around you. He hasn’t said this, but you have a high suspicion of it, with much evidence.

 

For one, in the morning you woke up, you found the bitty sleeping on the couch alright... Instead of being on the bed you made for him, he was far away from it. He even seemed to have torn up the blanket you made it with. Good thing it was an old one anyways...

 

Reason two, you had tried to call him a few times after you finished making breakfast. He didn’t come into the kitchen at any point. At least, not until you yourself were out of the kitchen. It was like the little guy was trying his best to avoid you around the house. He gave you a glare when you walked in, but that’s nothing new.

 

Reason three, you’re sitting in the living room, watching tv and the bitty is nowhere in sight. Then, when you called for him, you didn’t get a response back. Not a peep. The last you saw of him was when he was looking under the couch, but when you looked there later, he wasn’t there.  

 

So you’re totally convinced he’s staying away from you. But you’re completely unsure as to why. Fine, the other day could have gone better, but it’s not like you tried to kill him! You even saved his life! So what’s got him so mad at you? Is he really that mad because you stared at him for a few seconds? That can’t be it, can it?

 

Pushing your thoughts aside, you get to your feet, feeling the coolness of the wooden flooring seeping up into you. You stretch out your arms slightly, giving a groan and a small tired yawn. You call out to your bitty.

 

When not hearing a response from the little guy, you heave a sigh. You begin to look under your furniture for the mini skeleton. He couldn't have gotten that far.

 

The couch was a bust operation, as well as behind your tv, even underneath the stand. The kitchen had no places to hide and you were struck with the fact he had that teleportation ability. Going back to the living room, you begin to search all the high places in there. Like the top of your bookshelves, even if logic told you that a bitty could not reach the top of the shelf. 

 

You groan and head to your kitchen once again. Maybe you could lure him out with food... He seemed to like those cheeseburgers last night, so maybe you can find something else that’ll interest his appetite…. And while you were at it, settle your own. 

 

You reach to the top of your fridge and tug down your bag of barbecue chips. The bag was unraveled, guess it opened itself while sitting up there, you’ll be careful when closing them next time. You ignore the light grumble your stomach gives you as you open the bag enough to stick your hand inside, your eyes scanning the room.

 

Reaching a hand into the bag, you squeak when your hand  brushes against something that wasn’t…. It wasn’t very chip like. Did bugs get into your food again? You hate it when that happens. You swore you kept this bag nicely sealed. You take a breath and prepare yourself for the surely bug-filled bag.

 

You peer inside of the crinkly plastic bag of barbecue chips and your eyes widened. What you have is not bugs, what you  have is a set of red eye lights glaring up at you. Your little bitty was sitting in the empty back, covered in crumbs, and with the final chip in his hands

 

“The hell ya want?!” He snaps off with a growl, a few crumbs of chips tumbling out of his mouth. HAS HE NO MANNERS?!

 

“How did you get in ther--!” You realize that there are no other chips, “You ate all of them!?” Your attention is now fully drawn to the fact that the bag is empty instead of the bitty somehow being inside of it. You watch as the small skeleton smirked at you as he shoves the last chip into his mouth. That little devil!!!

 

You place the now empty bag onto the table, watching as the bitty crawls out from the opening and stands on his feet. He looks down at himself and smacks at the fabric of his sweater to get all the small pieces and barbecue salt off of himself. You let out a sigh and sit down at the table and stare at him in disbelief. 

 

“You just had breakfast, and that bag was half full. How did you eat all of that?” You say, picking up and crumbling the plastic to throw it into the trash can.

 

“Got hungry.” Is all you get, a mumbed response once your back is turned. 

 

After tossing out the chip back, you turn back to the little bitty. You were having a hard time believing someone so small could eat so much...

 

“You ate a pretty big breakfast, how… wait. Have you been in there the entire time I was looking for you? Where have you been!?” You demand, pointing up to the top of the fridge as the small skeleton bitty flops down onto your table. He stretched onto his side.

 

“Now what are you doing?” You ask and watch as his movements stop and his breathing slows.

 

“You did not just fall asleep.” You say in disbelief and walk over, only to indeed find the mini-skeleton asleep on your table. Right there! You sigh and roll your eyes. If only you were able to fall asleep within seconds like that, then maybe you’d be more productive. You carefully scoop the little thing into your hands and carry him to the couch. He needed to sleep on something more comfortable that the cold, hard table, you figure. 

 

Placing him onto the couch, you look at the sleeping little thing. When he’s not glaring and swearing in every sentence, he’s actually sort of cute. You guess it’s the hidden prize for taking care of an Edgy.

 

You decide to take this chance and carefully reach your hand over to the little guy. You use your index finger and carefully brush it against the top of his skull, dragging it down his skull to the back of his neck. You bring your finger back to the top of his head, repeating the action. The petting seems to cause him to curl up tighter and buries his face into the couch. You smile at his adorableness.

 

Keeping up the petting, you turn to the tv and lower the volume so you don’t wake him. He’s already grouchy when he’s not tired, no need to make it worse. You switch channels to go to the movie channel. It’s already at the credits to a movie that had just finished playing. The next movie is a horror movie. Guess you’ll be watching something scary. It’s bright outside, you have your bitty, it shouldn’t be too scary. 

 

Though, sadly you’re out of chips. So now you have no snack to munch on while watching your movie. Or anything to drink. You don’t have a blanket. You have nothing required for binging movies. You look to the bitty thats asleep on the opposite cushion of your couch. You could get up and it wouldn’t bother him. 

 

Or so you thought. When you attempted to remove your hand, the bitty gave a whiny kind of growl, his claws digging into the skin of your finger, an attempt at trying to yank you back over. Painful, but also adorable. You return to the petting and look down at the bitty.

 

Okay so, maybe it will bother him. Suffering with nothing it is! Well, not completely nothing. You have a happy bitty.

 

\---

 

Nearly 20 minutes into your movie, your arm is starting to cramp. Your hand and wrist is tired from the repetitive motion of stroking the small bitty, and you’re feeling the strain of keeping your arm extended for such a long time. The burning feeling crawling up to your bicep. Your bitty is cute and all, but you’re willing to suffer through the scratching and biting if it meant this stopped. They both still hurt, but when he attacks, it’s quick and over with, and not you causing the pain. You’re doing this of your own free will, and regretting it. 

 

You turn your head to the side and remove your hand from him. As expected, his hand swipes up to yank your hand back down, but it’s quite easy to avoid his sleepy and feeble attempt at getting what he wants. 

 

With a sigh of relief, you stand up to grab yourself some snacks. Or at least something to drink, remembering where the chips earlier had went...

 

Grabbing yourself a red plastic cup, you look down at the leftover breakfast items you made this morning. It’s all obviously cold, but bacon is good regardless of its temperature. So after picking up the last few pieces and filling your cup with the last of your apple juice, you head back to the living room. 

 

Shopping was a thing you need to do, you mentally reminded yourself. You’re running low on pantry essentials, and most likely other things, such as laundry detergent and dish soap. 

 

You take a seat with a sigh. You absentmindedly turn back to your show. Stuff is happening. 

 

Apparently now is when the main character gets a letter concerning his dead wife or something along those lines. You lean against the back of the couch and munch on your pieces of bacon, your juice in your free hand. 

 

You’re watching along, not really processing what you were seeing, your mind was wandering around, swimming for other items you might need to pick up. You weren’t going to get up and look, so a mental list would suffice. Did you need milk..? You didn’t know for sure. You’ll pick up milk anyways. Is there such thing as too much milk? No, you told yourself.

 

You take a swig of your apple juice to wash down the chewed bacon and continue gazing. Maybe you should get a proper bed for Cherry. He might like that. Or he might hate it, and then tear it up into pieces while you watched. That’d be... kinda rude. You decide to wait. 

 

Maybe he likes the one you made, it’s bigger than most bitty beds anyways. You think. Depending on the price. How much were you willing to spend extra on a bed, when he could like just sleeping on a pillow?

 

Yeah. You’ll wait. 

 

You reach to pick up the final piece of bacon you had placed it on your lap. You might consider making yourself some more, now that you don’t have a bitty clawing at your hand. You could pick up bacon at the store if you ran out, anyways. Besides, maybe the nice smell could wake him and he won’t actively avoid you…. 

 

When reaching for your snack, you look down and flinch to seeing your bitty sitting on your leg, eating the piece of meat that was bigger than his whole body. He’s busy focusing on the movie, not even noticing you staring at him. His small hands hold the sides of the bacon while he bites off small pieces, munching more even while parts of it still remain in his mouth. 

 

You move your hand away quickly, not wanting to end up starling him and making him choke. Guess he gets the final piece of bacon. When did he even wake up? And how did you not notice that he crawled up on your leg? You’re quite surprised that he’s sitting there to be honest. Is if because of the food? No, he would have just swiped it and sat away.. So why is he so close to you? 

 

“The fuck are ya starin’ at me for?” He growled up at you, little bits of bacon flying out of his mouth. Okay, that’s a habit that needs to be broken as soon as possible. 

 

You blink out of your thoughts and look at his glaring face. The bacon still sits in his hands and his body is turned to look at you. He’s clearly not happy with you staring at him, again. 

 

“Sorry you just, surprised me.” You apologize. You guess that he doesn’t like attention, or just doesn’t specifically want _you_  looking at him. 

 

“What?” He says, his bone brows squinting with an expression of confusion. 

 

“I didn’t think you’d be so comfortable sitting this close to me.” You respond truthfully, because you honestly didn’t. He’s been hiding from you the entire day and wasn’t exactly the most happy when the shop keeper had placed him in your hands before adoption. You had thought it was just an Edgy thing, but this was.. Weird? You didn’t know.

 

“I ain’t.” He snaps at you before tearing a piece of bacon off the strip with his sharp teeth before chewing. 

 

“Well, you’re kinda sitting on my lap. You could have fooled me.” You remind him, looking at your legs. He was sitting on your left thigh. His legs crossed while the end of the stip of bacon rested between his feet. 

 

He looked down to the pants you’re wearing and let out a yelp. He disappears before your eyes and reappeared on the bed you had made earlier. He had dropped the bacon, letting it fall against your leg. His small frame hid under one of the blankets, the lump as far away from you he could get, while still being under the cover. You see the small lump vibrating, like he’s shivering. You feel bad now. He had looked comfortable as far as you could tell. He was just eating and watching tv with you. Nothing wrong with that. Then you went and ruined it.

 

“H-hey, Cherry. It’s fine. I’m not mad or anything.” You try to assure him, scooting closer to his makeshift bitty bed. You pick up the bacon before it rolled off your leg and placed it on a napkin resting on the coffee table.

 

You sigh when you don’t get a response from him. He just continues to stay hidden from your line of sight. You gently place your hand over the small lump. You feel it flinch away from your touch. 

 

You gently attempt to make the motion of rubbing his back. You don’t know what you’re rubbing. Could be his skull, could be his side. Even his skeleton ass. But you continue regardless, hoping it’ll ease his nerves, in some shape or form. Whether he was embarrassed or scared, you want to help calm him down so that he could possibly feel more comfortable with being close to you. Like bitties normally are, as you have read. 

 

He doesn’t speak, but it seemed the light shaking stopped. You hope it’s not because he’s too scared with you petting him. You wondered why he even reacted like this. You don't remember saying anything bad. 

 

Could it be because he was afraid of being close to people? Or perhaps he was afraid that _you_ didn’t want _him_ being close? Did not like the way you felt? Did you smell? Holy shit, you haven’t showered in two days, maybe that’s what the problem was, wasn’t it! 

 

You should have seen the signs! He was avoiding you because you smelled bad! It all made sense! He was hiding so he wouldn’t have to deal with the fumes you secrete, how could you have not seen this! That’s why you found him in your chip bag, those smelled good and delicious, probably the exact opposite you smell right now. Nasty and horrid. You should take a shower, maybe he’ll feel safer. Yeah, shower.

 

While having the battle of your thoughts, you hadn’t noticed the fact that Cherry had slowly crawled out from under the blanket. He was staring at you, as you seemed to find the wall very interesting, your eyes intensely fixed on the wood keeping the roof up. He continued to gaze at the side of your face before turning his attention away to his hands when remembering how close he had gotten to you.

 

A pregnant silence fell onto the room. Neither of them said a word. Each embarrassed for completely different reasons.The silence slowly threaded into an awkward one. As the two continued not to speak, the bitty shifted uncomfortably on the handcrafted bed, and you finally turn your attention away from you wall to look at your bitty. 

 

You two make eye contact. Or... eye with eye light contact? Either way, your gazes met with one another. 

 

Cherry is the one to break it, looking back to his hands once again and mumbled a quiet word under his breath. 

 

“What?” You asks, unsure of what he had said. You receive another inaudible response and find yourself needed to ask him again. “Cherry I still didn’t hear.”

 

“I said ‘m sorry goddamnit!” He yells, snarling in anger. Or maybe a different emotion? You blink to his outburst. 

 

“Umm… sorry for what?” You ask, genuinely confused. Why is he sorry, you’re the one that supposedly smells bad. Don’t apologize!

 

“Y-ya didn’t say I could be near ya…” He speaks in a hushed voice, his eyes glued to his hands, as if they were the most glorious things in the world and he wasn’t allowed to look away. He begins to shake again, and he starts wringing his hands together nervously. You noticed small droplets of what would be the skele-bitty equivalent to sweat.   


 

You blink and raise an eyebrow. Excuse me but what? 

 

“You’re apologizing because I didn’t say you could sit near me?” You ask, unable to believe that was his excuse for freaking out. What!? 

 

“Dude, you’re my bitty. You don’t need to ask if you want to sit with me.” You tell him in a not too reassuring tone, but more of concern and confusion. Like, what the hell!? 

 

“It’s kinda what you guys do.” You say in a ‘duh’ tone.

 

“D-didn’t wanna... make ya mad.” He admits and still refuses to look in your direction, avoiding you graze or even looking at anything of you in general.

 

“I’m not going to be mad if you wanna snuggle up to me or something.” You say and reach to touch him. He glances up and flinches away from your moving hand. You blink again. “And I’m not going to smack you either.” You say and scoop him into your hand. 

 

“I didn’t say ya were.” He says, his tone picking up in volume now that you forced him in your hold. 

 

“You didn’t have to.” You say and attempt to pet him, until you saw the warning glare as his eyes were fixed on the finger threatening to touch him, but you didn’t mention the hint of fear you saw in those eyes as well. 

 

“You know I’m not going to hurt you, right?” You didn’t think you’d have to tell him that, but it seems like you might have to. 

 

“Not like ya could.” He grumbled and looked away from your stupid face. “I’d just bite yer stupid ass hand if ya tried ta touch me.” He growled softly. You could help but let out a soft laugh.

 

“And I know you mean your word on that, trust me.” You have the scabs to prove it, and he’s only been here for a day. Bath time was not the best of times for your hands. “But even if I could, I wouldn’t.” You explain to him with a soft smile. 

 

“Yeah, whatever.” He crossed his arms. “Put me down before I bite ya.” He demands, still looking away from you. 

 

“Mmmmmmnope.” You grins and continue to hold him. You even raise your hand again, a silent way of saying he’s saying to be pet! Your mind is made up, it’s happening! You’re petting this bitty while he’s awake!

 

“Put me down asshole! I will bit ya! I ain’t lyin! Don’t fuckin’ touch me!” He snaps to you as your hand inches closer. You half expected him to do that teleport thing and leave. Which he didn’t do for some reason. Maybe he does want to be pet. Maybe he’s actually warming up to you and wanted physical contact after your small talk with him. Maybe you do have a way with people, and you got him to open up. And now he’ll be happy and start snuggling with you and--!

  
  


“Ow!” 

 

Or he’ll bite the hell out of you like he promised. His teeth got pretty far through your skin. You’re bleeding, obviously. The stinging kinda hurts…. Does hurt. The bitty is smirking in satisfaction to his self defense attack, his left arm up with his middle finger up. 

 

“S’whatcha get, fucker.” He grins 

 

“I didn’t think you’d actually bite me!” You respond in total confusion. You were sure you were on his good side!

 

“Ya just agreed with me that when I say m gonna bite ya, m gonna bite ya!” he responds, looking at you like you’re a complete idiot. “How the hell could ya forget!?”

 

“I don’t know. I thought we had a connection now!” You respond with a shrug, ignoring the bite to fight with your bitty. 

 

“Over what!? We had a talk that wasn’t even a fuckin minute long!” 

 

“I don’t know, it just seemed like you felt comfortable around me or something.”

 

“What gave ya that fuckin idea!? Quit assumin’ shit! Makes ya look stupid!” He responds, crossing his arms again and looking at you, dumbfounded at how you grew connections from… well... nothin’. 

 

“I can apparently look stupid by doing nothing according to you.” You respond and stand up, still holding the bitty in your hand as you head to the kitchen to wash off the blood that was starting to dry from the exposed air. 

 

“Man, you really pack a punch with your bites. Your teeth are too sharp.” You sigh and set him down by the sink and run the water over your wound. 

 

“Maybe now you’ll get the  **point** .” He grins to his pun and looks as the blood washes off your hand and down the drain. His nonexistent stomach churns slightly at the site. He hates the sight of human blood, looks too similar to his own. Red.

 

He looked up to your face. You didn’t seem angry from him biting you. You didn’t seem upset in anyway, even though you said you didn’t expect him to. Was that a test of some sort? Did he fail whatever you had attempted to do?

 

“Yer gonna bandage that, right?” He asks, shoving his hands into his pockets. 

 

“What?” You take a quick glance to him before looking to your bite mark. “Oh, no probably not. It’s not that bad.” You say and withdraw your hand. You grab a towel and dry off the water dripping from it. With your back turned to your bitty, you toss your towel back down on a table and flinch when hearing the sound of shattering glass. You whip around in time to see Cherry at the edge of the counter, fixing his posture and staring at the broken cup in pieces on the ground. “What did you do?” You look to Cherry again. He did _not_ just push a cup off your table like a cat. 

 

“Nothin’.” he responds, hands in his pockets, looking at you with a bored expression on his face. Or is that him struggling not to smirk. 

 

You narrow your eyes at him. “Did you push that cup?” You accuse, pointing to the broken glass. 

 

“No.” He responds instantly. 

 

“I feel like you did.”

 

“Well, I didn’t.”

 

“Are you lying?”

 

“No.”

 

“You swear you’re not lying?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Why don’t I trust you?” 

 

“Cause yer a terrible human that doesn’t believe a bitty.” 

 

You inhale slowly and let it out just as slow. 

 

Smart ass bitty. 

 

You crouch down and do your best not to cut yourself on the glass shards as you pick up the larger pieces and toss them in the garbage bin. For the smaller pieces, you use a broom to sweep up into a dustpan and throw the rest of the glass fragments away. You’ll need to remember to wear shoes in your kitchen for a bit in case you missed a few pieces. You turn back around just in time to catch a cup that you definitely saw Cherry push off the edge! You knew it! He did push it of the table! That liar!

 

“Cherry!” You yell and place the cup back on the counter, further away from the edge so it wouldn’t fall. 

 

“What?” He responds as if he did nothing wrong. 

 

“You can’t push my cups off the counter!” You say to him, kind of annoyed he tried to do it twice. 

 

“What are ya gettin mad at me for, ya knew I would do that!” He responds, looking quite angry as if what he did was the obvious. “The bitin shit all over again, quit expectin’ shit from me!”

 

“I didn’t know you would do that! How was I supposed to know you were going to break my expensive glass!?” You point to the cup that could have joined the fate of the first had you not caught it.

 

“Read! ‘M a fuckin Edgy, do yer damn research.” He snaps with a scowl. 

 

“What do you mean-ohhh… yeah I remember that now.” You had done work about Edgies. They’re prone to messing with anything breakable. The reason why is unknown, they just do. They probably like the sounds of.. Breaking glass. 

 

You had said that you needed to buy plastic items for that specific reason, but completely forgot about it until now. 

 

“Stars, yer so not ready for this kinda shit.” Cherry sighs with a shake of his head. 

 

“What?” You respond with a raise of an eyebrow. “I’m ready to take care of a bitty. It’s just a new experience, I need to get used to you, alright.” 

 

“Ya didn’t even have a bed for me. Ya made some weird ass blanket shit.” He says and shifted to comfortably stand on his feet, his arms across his chest. 

 

“Was it really that bad? You said last night it wasn’t completely terrible.” Were you pleading? Sounded like you were begging for it to be true now. 

 

He squirms slightly and turns his face from you. “It…. wasn’t that shitty… just smelled bad.”

 

You blink. You were positive that that you had used clean blankets and sheets. How did it smell? Was it your couch? Shit, it was probably your couch. Now you feel bad. How could you make it up to him? Quick, think of something!

 

“Are ya done bleedin’ or what?” He snaps you out of your thoughts. 

 

“Oh yeah.” You look to the bite marks on your hand. The bleeding stopped, now you have about five tiny slits around the center of your right pointer finger. Oh well, add it to the others he’s given you. “Wait, hold on. I’m still mad about you trying to break two of my cups. You can’t be doing that, those are my only drinking glasses.”

 

“What do ya want me ta do about it?” He responds. “Not like I can do anything, yer the human, you fix yer problems.” He points to you as he speaks. 

 

You stare before an idea comes to mind. It’s perfect! It’ll kill two birds with one stone. You smile and give a shrug. “Fine.” You’re quick to pick him up by the hood of his jacket and place him into your hand. 

 

“Hey! The hell are ya doin!? Ya don’t lean do ya!” He growled down at your hand. Before he could bite, you plop a clean dish rag on top of him to distract him.

 

“Fucker!” He curses at you.

 

“Relax. We’re going somewhere.” You say as you walk into the living room in search of your keys. 

 

After struggling to free himself from the dish cloth, he throws it off of him and watched it fall to the floor. “The hell do ya think yer gonna take me?” He glares up at you.

 

You smile down at him. “Shopping!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyy... been 2 months since the update. Better than four right? 
> 
> What would you guys think if I made an x reader?


	4. Road Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baked bones anyone?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any questions or wanna chat? Find me at: [My blog](//yellowchimera332.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Special thanks to my editor: [My amazing editor](//decaf-ed-raccoon.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Extra special thanks: [Coming in clutch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aqqle_tart)

_You smile down to him. “Shopping!”_

 

“What!?” Cherry snaps as you close the door behind yourself. His eye sockets widen, but still clearly looking pissed.

“Hell no! I ain’t doing that stupid shit!” He looks around for a possible escape route.

 

“Oh come on Cherry. This can kill two birds with one stone. It’ll be something good for both of us.” You say as you head to the car, trying to ignore the tiny pinpricks of clawing at your hand.

 

“No. This is shit **you**  wanna do!” He corrects, a growl his only warning before biting down on your thumb. Your shoulders almost instantly shrug up from pain, but you continue. You gently nudge his face off of your hand, trying to avoid him pricking your other finger with his teeth.

 

“If we do this, we can get you some stuff. Like a real bed. And some stuff to help you feel more at home around the house.” You try to explain while opening the car door. You were hoping you had some spare napkins to clean the blood from your thumb.

 

He grumbles as you hold him and stares at the interior of the car.

“Who the hell says I even want anythin’?!” He snarls at you, snapping his eyes back up to your face.

 

“You’re an edgy bitty. You guys always want something.” You respond and carefully set him on top of the dashboard. You open up your glove box, sifting around for a few seconds before pulling out a few napkins and placing it on the wound, a wound that’s adding to the collection of marks already on your hand.

 

Cherry went quiet. Ha! Got him.

 

The bitty stays silent as you dab the bite wound clean. He looked at the slightly dusty dashboard he sits on and slowly crossed his legs. His red eyelights scan the inside of the vehicle for a few more seconds. It was... not the same as the atmosphere your home presented. Your car was… something.

 

It wasn’t his kind of thing. He preferred dark colors. Mostly blacks, reds, and the occasional yellow to highlight his edginess. _Maybe_ a soft blue, if you’re lucky. Your car held an oddly consistent color pallet, despite random things being out of place, such as your weird seat coverings that looked kind of soft. And the steering wheel with was the only thing majorly out of place. But he kinda liked it. It was a galaxy cover, stars and planets scattered over it. It looked kinda fuzzy and soft. At least you had good taste in _something_.

 

“This is stupid.” The bitty grumbled under his breath before he crossed his arms over his chest. He huffed and turned his body to look out over the dashboard window. The sun was above them, thankfully not shining any harsh light through the glass. So he wouldn’t feel overheated from the sun’s rays at the moment.

 

“I’m starting to think that you think everything is stupid.” You said, pulling the slightly bloody napkin away from your thumb to inspect the wound. A few small holes where teeth had punctured skin were visible. It seemed to have stopped bleeding, so you can drive without the worry of blood dripping everywhere. You toss the napkin into a small bag behind your seat, that’s where you put garbage to keep your car clean. It was starting to get full, so you’ll have to toss it out later.

 

After correcting your posture to sit forward, you spare a quick glance to the brooding bitty staring out the large window. His arms firmly crossed over his chest, his legs in the same position as he slumps forward in obvious irritation. You could only see his back, but you could still sense his anger radiating off of him. You nibble on your lip slightly as you thought about how you could attempt to make this enjoyable for the both of you.

 

He obviously seemed to really like mustard, but you couldn’t risk bringing some with you to the store, what with his messy eating habits. And you’re positive he wouldn’t appreciate having another bath today. Maybe you could try introducing him to new foods? Ones that won’t leave stains. Maybe chocolate. No, that stains too if it melts.

There’s always the possibility that maybe he’d like some new clothes. Or something to make him feel at home around the home. Perhaps there are some blankets he’d like, or a piece of bitty furniture? If you could even find something like that at this store.

 

Instead of sitting there and looking awkward, you decide to actually start up your car. You hadn’t done that yet for some reason.

You notice Cherry twitch to the sound of your jingling keys. You continue fiddling with them until you find the key to the ignition. After putting the car key in and giving it a turn, the car rumbles to life.

You give a smile, lowering the volume to the radio in case of an intrusive songs blasts through your nearly broken speakers. You should really get those fixed considering the wide variety of music you listen to. Maybe next week.

 

You quickly do your once over with your mirrors, making sure they were aligned correctly before pulling out your spot and starting the drive to the store. It was a silent start, neither of the two of you spoke, and you were positive Cherry was giving you some form of the silent treatment, afterall, he didn’t want to do this in the first place. You quickly try to come up with a conversation starter. Your only hope was that this wouldn’t end up being an awkward silence for the rest of the drive.

 

“Are you positive there’s nothing you want while we’re out?”

 

Silence. Like you had been expecting.

 

“I could get you some new clothes? Or you could lay in a few beds to pick which one you like better?” You add on and watch him.

His fingers are clenched into small fists.

 

“Or we could get lunch after this? Try some new foods. You might end up liking some of the things from the food court. Or we could just pick up some stuff you think you might like from the store. Maybe I could even look up some recommended foods for bitties and see if you’d like any of those.” You begin to ramble, desperately wanting him to respond so this wasn't a one sided conversation. Your only question was: why did you keep going back to talking about food? Maybe you’re hungry. You should probably grab something while you’re out.

 

“Slow down…” Cherry half mumbles as you continue to ramble.

 

“We could also... What?”

 

“Slow down.” He says again, louder for you to hear him properly this time.

 

You blink in confusion and stare at your bitty. “What?” You find yourself asking. You quickly look back to the road. Don’t want to crash now.

 

“Y-yer fuckin… car..” You hear him sputter out.

 

You spare a glance at your dashboard to check your speed. Then you look up for a few seconds and catch sight of the speed limit. 45 MPH. Just as you thought.  


“I’m going the speed limit.” You say, glancing to the bitty. He had changed his position during your ramble. He was now hugging his knees, with his hands grasping the fabric of his shorts.

 

“Yer goin’ fast…”

 

“Cherry, I’m only going 43 miles per hour. That’s not that fast.” You explain

 

“Well, it’s fast ta me, goddamnit!” He yells into his knees, not lifting his head to give you a glare. You blink, slowly easing your foot off the gas pedal, slowly making your car drift to 35 MPH. No one was behind you, and if someone was, they can just pass you in the left lane.

 

“Are you alright, Cherry?” You ask him, taking a hand off the wheel to rub a finger against his back. His body twitches and you watched his back arch away from your touch.

 

“‘M fine… ‘n’ don’tcha fuckin touch me.” He growled softly. But it wasn’t the same intensity he gave you on average. It was quieter, forced, even. Something wasn't right.

 

“What's wrong?” You ask, glancing up at the road, stopping at a stop sign. You look over to your bitty.

 

“Nothin’. Other than yer drivin’ like a madman.” He refuses to lift his head up. He keeps it tucked between his knees, his arms tighten their hold around his legs.

 

You glance at the road and slowly ease on the gas to start moving again. If you weren’t driving you would try to make eye contact with him, or try petting him again. But you try to keep the car moving slowly so Cherry doesn’t feel... Scared?

 

“Are you scared I’m going to crash or something?” You ask him and glance at the road before taking a slightly longer look at your bitty. Your actions may be contradicting your words at the moment.

 

“Duh! Yer drivin’ like a dumbass!”

 

You press your foot onto the brake once again. “There, now I’m at a stop sign.” You say as you pull to the red sign, waiting for someone to cross the street.

 

You’re actually pretty close to the road that’ll lead you to the store. The store won’t have a wide selection like the bitty center did, just a small isle as they do for dogs, cats, and other pets. But it should have more than enough stuff for you to choose from. Worst comes to worst, you’ll stop by a store dedicated to all things bitties related, if need be.

 

You watch the bitty slowly lift his head up from his knees.

 

“Oh..” He muttered and his hands let go of his grip slightly.

 

You hum “If you want, I can take a detour to a slower road if that’ll make you feel better.” You didn’t add in the part that you guys would be out longer. That might sway his opinion.

 

Oddly enough, he takes a little bit a time to voice his answer. He doesn’t know if he wants to stay in this death machine longer than he needs to be. On the other hand, he doesn’t like the idea of going so fast that if this idiot fucked up they’d both dust. Ain’t no way in hell he wants that to happen.

 

“Sure.” He grumbled before flinching to the wrenching feeling of the car moving forwards again.

 

“Alright then.” You say as you look around the road for the street you’re supposed to go down.

The turn shouldn’t be too far ahead, which would be good. Well, actually it would be good if it weren’t for the black truck in front of you which was going even slower than you were. You take a glance at your speed and notice you’re just barely going over 33 MPH.

You sigh, looking at the truck and checking to see if someone was coming down the other road to try passing the car. You patiently drum your fingers on the steering wheel when seeing a white car that was starting to come down, keeping you placed behind the slow car before you. Doesn’t matter, by the time the car came by, you’d need to turn.

 

“Come on buddy.” You mutter as the truck stays at its slow speed. Your turn is thankfully coming up in a few seconds. So you’ll be able to get away from him. You flip on your right blinker and get ready to turn. Then you see the truck in front of you also start flashing their blinker. They start going down the road you were going down. You sigh as you reluctantly follow. This is going to be a long day.

 

\--

 

_Why the hell does she sound pissed?_

 

Cherry glances up, watching a large truck drive in front of them. She’s a little close, isn’t she? How the hell is she gonna stop in time if she needs to? Damn, she’s shitty at this. They’re both gonna fuckin die.

 

He watches a red light start flashing on the right side of the car. He blinks in confusion as to what it means. Then he hears ticking going off in the car. The curiosity gets stronger and causes him to look around. Where exactly was the sound coming from? And what was it for? The fuck is goin’ on? Is this shit gonna explode!? He can’t die like this!

 

His thoughts were cut off when he felt himself lean. His arms quickly flailed to his side to catch himself and he looked up and saw that you were turning and following the black truck in front of them. Then the ticking stopped and it didn’t come back. The black truck’s red light stopped flashing as well. He looked around the car in confusion and looked to the dumb human that’s taking care of him.

 

\--

 

“What?” You say when he sees your eyes turn to him.

 

“The fuck did ya just do!?” He demands, trying to sit up and not huddle into the ball he had placed himself in.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“That weird tickin’ shit ‘r whatever!” Cherry bared his teeth in irritation. From his point of view, if he looks threatening, he’ll get answers.

 

“Ticking? Oh, that was my blinker.” You tell him and looked up through the glass.

 

His gaze drops slightly. “The fuck is a blinker?”

 

“It’s a light on my car. Depending on how I flip a switch on my left, it flashes a light to let other cars know which way I’m going to turn. The clicking sound you were hearing was my car’s way of letting me know that it was on.” He listens to you talk.

 

“So… we’re not gonna explode?” He asks, tilting his skull to the side slightly to emphasize his conc-worry. Though the emotion shifts to an annoyed glare when you snort and let out a little laugh.

 

“No!” You giggle. “We’re not going to explode.” You laugh behind one of your hands, the other still keeping its place on the steering wheel. “We’re safe, Cherry.”

 

You didn’t make that sound reassuring in the slightest.

 

“Whatever.” He growled and turned away from you to hug his legs. If he’s small and doesn’t move, you won’t pay attention to him. If you don’t pay attention to him, you won’t be bothered by his existence.

 

\--

  


The car ride was uneventful after that. You did eventually manage to pass that slow truck, which turned out to be a child in the front seat with their parent in the passenger side. New driver, so you guessed it’s understandable for them to drive a bit slower. But it still caused slight irritation, considering you’ĺl be out longer than you expected.

 

You, unfortunately, didn’t get the conversation that you had wanted. Thankfully you weren’t left in awkward silence, keeping the ride a heavy quiet. You had noticed that you would need to stop for gas on your way back home now that you’re taking a longer road, you just hope you’ll remember to make the stop when going home. You’d tell Cherry to remind you, but you doubt he’s even paying attention to anything right now. Judging from the fact that he hasn’t moved from the position on the top of your dashboard.

 

Your eyes shift up to scan the sign before your car drove past. Not much longer from now, you’ll reach the store. Though, you started to worry about your bitty when the sun started to slowly move itself to sit in front of your car. It was getting later than you wanted to be out. You pulled your mirror down to block the sunlight to allow you to see, but your bitty was still getting the full effect of the heat shining through the glass. You remember that when the heat goes through glass, it intensifies. Not to mention that his black jacket absorbing said heat wasn’t making it easy on him either.

Your hand reached over to turn on the AC, deciding it would be better to keep the car at a cooler temperature for the rest of the drive home. The sound of the air blasting through the vents made Cherry jump, the new unfamiliar noise causing him to look over his shoulder and give you a quick alarmed glance as small beads of what looks like sweat built on his forehead. That only confirmed your suspicions of the heat bothering him, and only made you feel worse about not asking him if he was okay in the first place.

The small bitty watched you for a moment, before he looked forward again, returning to his previous position with his back facing you and his face hidden in his knees. That is when you started to wonder if the reason he hadn’t moved the whole car ride was that of the sun. You bite your lip, thinking over what you’re about to do, before you just go for it.

 

He had told you once to not assume a specific reaction from him… more of yelled it to be honest, but the implication of his words was still the same. You had certainly learned your lesson after he bit you for your miscalculation.

You carefully extend your hand to the small and most likely overheated skeleton bitty. You’d feel bad if you left him there after noticing the effect of the heat on him. You kept a careful eye on the road as you gently scooped him up into your hold, his body stiffening as he was picked up. You could feel the heat radiating off of him as if he was the source, guilt crept up on you, making you want to keep him away from the beating sun’s rays even stronger.

 

“The fuck are ya doin’?!” He shouted out, digging his claws into your skin. You winced a bit, but stayed calm and collected as you tried to find a nearby vent to hold him under.

 

“What does it look like?” You asked quietly, being careful to make sure you weren't holding him too tight in any way.

 

“Looks like yer pickin’ me up like a fuckin’ idiot.” He retorted angrily and glared at your thumb as if it had insulted his ancestors. He bared his sharp shark-like teeth at you, clearly displeased, an obvious warning to not mess with him.

“Relax Cherry, I’m not going to hurt you. Quit overreacting.” You mumble as you raise your hand to let the air blow over him, your eyes focused on driving but your voice sounding slightly distracted as you couldn't help steal a few cautious glances at your bitty.                                                                                               

“I ain’t fuckin’ ov-” Cherry's body shuddered at the sudden blast of cool air, and his head quickly jerked in the direction of the gusting cold wind. “The fuck?”

You snorted quietly, trying to muffle it for the sake of his pride. “It’s the air conditioning.” You explained to him, shifting your hand just slightly in an attempt to not startle him with the movement. You hum to yourself, glancing into the mirror at the shoulder not occupied by your seat belt. It’s normal for bitties to perch there, isn’t it? Yeah.

The small skeleton grumbled lightly, carefully wiggling in place to drop his legs off the side of your hand and turn his head to face the venting. “Feels… Cold.” Well duh.

You carefully set him down on your shoulder, a vent still pointing towards you, letting Cherry bask in the cold. He growled at first, not happy with the fact that you moved him, and his hands clutched at the fabric of your shirt to prevent himself from falling. Thankfully though, he didn't seem too agitated in general by the second shift of position.

 

“Comfortable?” You decide to ask, voice just a little smug by accident. If he liked sitting on your shoulder, maybe he'd willingly let you put him there in the future. Maybe he'd even climb up there himself!

He just growled in reply though. You could tell that if he wasn’t so worried about falling, he’d probably be crossing his arms like he normally did. He might feel better about the no falling issue once he’s gotten used to sitting up on your shoulder, of course, that’s where bitties normally sat to your knowledge, beside the top of a human’s head. So maybe it’d come naturally? If not, you’d just have to perch him there more often.

You’d love to chance a glance at the small skeleton on your shoulder, but you kept your eyes forward. You’d hate it if you crashed on the first car ride Cherry’s been on, after all, it seemed that he had trust issues, and you’re already literally forcing him out of his comfort zone into something that is scaring him. But you suppose it’s too late to go back now, you just have to hope he’ll cooperate with you.

 

\---

 

The rest of the car ride went as smoothly as it could get. You managed to get some small talk from your bitty, thankfully. You supposed the air conditioning helped calm him if the heat was what made him less talkative. And you were happy you seemed to help him calm down somewhat, equally thankful that you likely prevented the equivalent of a skeleton bitty heat stroke. You know that he’s not too affected by the temperature, but just like with humans, that amount of heat can hurt you.

 

“Hey, guess what?” You ask as you press on the break, slowing down your car before taking a left turn into a parking lot.

 

He sighed in exasperation and annoyance, deciding to humor you. “What?” You hear him groan out, though his breath catches in his throat when the car stops abruptly a second later. You may have been a fraction of a second late and hit the parking bump. “The fuck!?”

 

You let out a nervous chuckle as you put your car in park. “Sorry.” You mutter and retract you key, the AC shutting down and the radio going silent. “But, we’re here.” You smile and open the car door.

 

“Fuckin’ finally.” His grip on your shirt tightens when you start to exit your car, claws possibly puncturing the fabric for all you knew.

 

“Yeah yeah, I know.” You roll your eyes to his impatience, thrusting your hand behind you to close the door to your car. You click the small button on your keyring a few times until you hear the double beep of your locked car. “Still don’t have an idea on something you want?” You turn, weaving between other parked cars to make your way to the store entrance.

 

“Not ta fuckin’ be here, thank you.”

 

“Anything but _that_?” You say, slightly irritated. “Look, we’re here, at least try to look like you’re enjoying yourself. Okay?”

 

He exhales annoyedly. “The fuck does that look like!?” He snaps.

 

“I don’t know!” You raise your hands slightly. “Smile? Not glare at me or anyone around us!?” You’ve never been forced to explain what looking happy was before. What the hell are you supposed to say!?

 

Was that a pretend gag? “No way in hell. ‘D rather sit ‘n boilin’ water than do that shit.”

You feel his fingers retract from your shirt. You glance to the side and find that he had crossed his arms. It seems that he feels safe sitting on you, so that’s good at least.

 

“That’s a sickeningly specific set of interactions you’d rather do.” You comment and step up on the sidewalk, waiting for the guy on his roller blades to go by. “Are you okay?” What he said was very concerning to you.

 

He doesn’t respond right away. “‘S an edgy thing, fer bitties.”

 

“ **That’s** a bitty thing?” You turn your head to face him. “I don’t believe it.”

 

“W-well it is. Didn’t ask ya ta fuckin’ believe me.” He turns his own head to glare at you in response.

 

You raise an eyebrow as your arm reaches to push the door open. “That seems like a really weird thing to have a conversation about.” You pull the door. “Who would even-”

 

“Hey!! Watch out!!!”

 

You grunt in pain when something collides into your side, slamming you onto the concrete beneath you. The pain explodes through your body quickly, knocking the air out of you. You find yourself unable to breathe, a heavy force resting on your stomach. The pain swells, you feel your closed eyes begin to water. You feel like your lungs won’t expand. You need to breathe! Make it stop, oh god make it stop!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Start the year off with a-.... it's the 2nd already....


	5. Shopping Disaster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You still forgot your ice cream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys like it. If you have any questions and want to know more you can find me at https: [My blog](//yellowchimera332.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Check out my wonderful editor at https: [My amazing editor](//decaf-ed-raccoon.tumblr.com/)

You groan in pain, eyes screwed shut as you desperately tried to breathe. Your lungs are on fire as they were unable to obtain the needed oxygen. The throbbing pain on the back of your head wasn’t helping in the slightest, causing you to breathe shakily. White-hot tears formed, threatening to spill over despite your closed eyes.

 

It was ridiculously difficult to breathe. Your lungs refused to cooperate and just only intake small gulps of air. It’s as if there’s no oxygen in the air and your muscles have nothing to inhale. Like your lungs are flat and lifeless, completely out of commission. The heavy muscles lifelessly sitting inside of your body, weighing you down. 

 

You struggled slightly when feeling the pain and pressure shifted. What little air you were slowly regaining is lost again. Something is said, but it’s too hard to make out. ‘Are yolks today’? That doesn’t sound right. Yolks are tomorrow, after all. Your body screamed with need and ringing, you feel deaf as you hear muffled yelling. Your head hurts an ungodly amount, but you’re slowly regaining your breath, some of the disorientation going with each exhale and inhale. 

 

...

 

“Watch where yer fuckin’ human is goin’!”

 

“I am so very sorry! He could not stop himself in time! He is still learning!”

 

“Look at what fuckin’ happened! He coulda killed me from that height! Now get ‘em off my ride home!”

 

You groaned when the force finally went away, just as fast as it came. You take a large gasp for air, choking slightly on the quick intake to breathe as you force yourself to sit up. Your vision slowly swam back with bright, blurry forms looming overhead. The burning in your chest eased and vanished. Taking a few deep breaths and blinking your eyes, you search your surroundings to understand what the hell just happened. Your eyes fall to a man who was gingerly picking up a small bitty, then looking at you with an apologetic expression. 

 

“I’m so sorry. I tried to stop in time, but I was going way too fast.” He says, placing the small bitty on his shoulder and reached a helping hand out to you. After a cough and another breath of air, you take it, allowing him to help you to your feet. “Are you okay? I hope you didn’t break a bone or anything.”

 

You do a once over while shifting to rub the back of your head, which was still sore from its meeting with the pavement. 

 

“Um…” You groan slightly as speaking knocks the wind out of you for a split second.”...No? I think I’m okay for the most part.” You say and give yourself the chance to look over this person, taking the time to control yourself and stop the small amount of trembling.

 

He looked middle-aged, probably around his late 20’s or early 30’s. Around the same age as you, most likely. You’re not sure if his black hair is unkempt because of the crash, or if that’s his normal look. The small traces of a beard forming shows that he had shaved a few days back and it was starting to regrow again. He held a blue helmet in his hands, which might be the cause of why you got slammed back so forcefully. He was pretty thin, average height. He was maybe only taller than you by about 6 inches. 

 

He offers a small, relieved smile. “Thank god, I was worried I caused permanent damage. What about your bitty, is he okay?”

 

You blink and look around. You completely forgot about Cherry! You start to feel a panic swell in your chest when you don’t find him on the ground. Where the hell is he!? Is he okay!? It’s your first day out, he can’t be hurt now!

 

“‘M fine.”

 

You flinch and look to your side, finding the grouchy bitty with his hands clutching the fabric of your shirt, sitting on your shoulder. His usual scowl rested on his face as he stared at the male human before you. He appeared unscathed. Thank goodness.

 

“We’re glad you’re okay! That fall must have been very painful.” You turn your head to the new voice. Now is when you register that the human’s bitty was a baby blue. His bright blue scarf tied around his neck, the ends almost resembling bunny ears. He’s adorable!

 

“Yeah.” The guy nods. “Once again, sorry about that. I got these things a few weeks ago and finally had time to use them. Still kinda practicing.” He gives a nervous laugh, rubbing his neck. His free hand extends to you. “I’m Jared.” He introduces. “And this little guy is Bleu.” 

 

“Hello!” The small bitty smiles, giving a wave. 

 

You take his hand, giving it a shake as you introduce yourself and Cherry. You reassure him that it’s alright and you’re not upset by being smashed into the ground. You remember your first time with roller skates, and you were a mess. Had it not been for knee pads, gloves, and a helmet, you’d have way more scars. You’ve had a fair share of smashing into people just like him.

 

“Well, it’s nice to meet you two.” You say, dropping your hand after the handshake. “Sorry about body blocking you and all that.” You apologize, giving a small smile. 

 

“Heh, sorry about tackling you.” He apologizes once again, feeling a bit relaxed when seeing how you didn’t hold any anger towards him. “I’ll probably start practicing around my house so this doesn’t happen again.” He says.

 

“Yeah, that’d probably be for the best.” You agreed. You raise an arm to rub the sore spot on your head again before wincing. Yup, that’s gonna bruise. At least there’s no blood, surprisingly. 

 

“You sure you’re okay? You’re not gonna sue me are you?” Jared asked, worry started to spread across his face again. 

 

“The hell is that?” Cherry muttered by your shoulder. 

 

“It’s where I could send him to court for attacking me and take money from him.” You explain. You’re not sure if that’s completely true, since you’ve never been on any of the ends. But you’re pretty sure it’s close enough. If movies had any say in that. 

 

“Sue him.”    
  


“Cherry!” You snap, looking over to him. He just shrugs, ignoring your gaze. You look back to Jaren. “No, I’m not going to sue you. It’s was just an accident.” You give him a soft smile. Bleu seems to pat his owner's shoulder to calm him as well.

 

He nodded and gave an awkward clap of his hands. “Right... Hah. Well, I’ll let you get back to what you were doing. Maybe we’ll meet up again under better circumstances.” He gave a quick smile in return. 

 

“Sounds good.” You agree and finally open the door to head into the store to do your shopping. You look to your side to your bitty. “You okay?” You ask him. 

 

“‘M fine.”

 

“That’s what you say, but are you telling me the truth?”

 

“I said ‘m fine!” He looks at you with a heavy frown and a glint in his eyes. 

 

“Okay, okay.” You sigh and look forwards. “Just want to make sure you’re not hurt...”

 

“Well I ain’t a weak fuckin’ human like you.” He carefully rubbed his left arm as he spoke, a possible contradiction? Or just his pride speaking? 

 

“I didn’t say that you were, Mr. Prideful.” You say, turning into an aisle to skim some of the items, slightly unsure if this was the right side of the store. “...And is that all I am to you? A creepy, weak, stupid human?” You ask as you walk down a few more aisles in search for the most likely very small, and expensive, bitty section. 

 

“I didn’t fuckin’ say that.” He grouched, looking down at his feet. He held one of his arms while trying to keep a firm hold on your shoulder. 

 

You blinked. “Then what  _ am _ I to you?” You ask, walking down a row of pet supplies. You think you’re getting closer to what you’re looking for. You snicker to a stupid looking dog toy that had its eyes in the wrong spot.

 

“Mmm I don’t fuckin’ know… yer just…. A, stupid, human.” He shrugged. 

 

“Got it, I’m not creepy or weak. Just stupid.” You confirm with a smile. Your eyes find the labels you’re looking for. And as you were expecting, the prices were high. Too expensive... But that’s what you get for buying a bitty, you suppose. 

 

“Ya are creepy!” He snaps. “Ya wanna fuckin’ give me a bath ‘n’ shit! And ya stare at me all the fuckin’ time! And ya keep touchin’ me fer no fuckin’ reason!” He lists off things that  **normal** bitty owners do. 

 

“Yup, you got me. I’m a creep that loves my bitty.” Not the choice of words you meant to come out, but oh well. 

 

“Ngh…..” He looked away from you, going quiet. Your eyes peep over to look at him. You notice the bright red on his cheekbones, contrasting his white face. His position had shifted to hugging himself loosely. His hand grips the left side of his jacket. His eye light things are downcasted, facing the opposite direction from you. 

 

You give a small smile when looking at him before looking up at the wall. As expected, the store barely provided anything related to bitties. Not even a good fraction of real bitty stores sell, at least it’ll be cheaper. Kinda. You didn’t exactly have a side by side comparison right now, but you had a feeling people usually charged more for these tiny trinkets.

 

“Hey look, it’s not a lot to choose from, but they have some clothes. Anything here interest you?” You ask him, pointing to the small array of tiny colored fabrics to be worn by the little creatures. Blue and black seem to be the overpowering color to choose from. 

 

“They all look stupid…” Mister Grumpy Bitty grumbled from his spot on your shoulder, barely looking at them in your opinion.

 

“Give me a different response.” 

 

“Don’t like ‘em….” 

 

“Are you just saying that because you don’t want to be here?” You accuse, feeling a bit disappointed. After you went all this way and almost got murdered, for him to turn down the very expensive clothes!

 

“......”

 

You sigh and give a slow roll of your shoulds, careful not to jostle the bitty too much. “You know, the longer you pout and make this hard for me, the longer it’ll take us to go home.” 

 

He growls to your statement. At least he understands that messing with you is also screwing himself over. But that doesn’t mean he’ll stop acting out. It’s because he’s mopey.    


“So, again, anything here interest you?” You repeat and give a cross of your own arms, imitating, but failing to live up to his mastery over being grumpy.

 

He groans and goes quiet. You can see from the corner of your eye that he’s staring at the different options. You allow him to take his time now that he’s actually participating in the shopping trip. This gives you time to go over your mental list of food items that need to be picked up. 

 

Milk, eggs, bread, maybe some cheese. You should probably pick up some peanut butter and jelly for easy snacks. Speaking of snacks, you need to replace the chips that Cherry devoured... Even if he was probably going to eat them all again. You still didn’t understand how he was able to eat all of those chips, they were just over half his size. 

Shrugging the train of thought away, you consider getting cheddar and sour cream this time. And a small bag of marshmallows. Wasn’t there something else you wanted to get? You probably should have written it down when you thought of it. You were so incompetent today...

 

“Black turtle neck looks fine…” You hear your grumpy bitty finally speak up, nudging you away from your mental listing for the time being. 

 

You turn your head to him for a split second before looking around for the specific article of clothing. Your eyes fall upon the black item and you glance to the price tag, which listed a hefty: $34.76. Of course, it’s overly FUCKING expensive. 

That’s about the price to buy a human-sized shirt. Hell, probably like ten shirts. But, still, that’s probably five to ten bucks cheaper than an actual bitty store would sell the same thing for. So you can’t really complain too much. You’ll still whine silently at this robbery. 

 

You hum to the article of clothing after a moment. “I think it’d work on you.” You comment, reaching and taking the small item off the wall. You feel the fabric between your fingers. You can... Sort of understand why it was so expensive. It was rather soft and thick. It’d keep Cherry pretty warm for when it started to snow more often, which would maybe keep him from getting sick. If bitties even got sick, that is... But that was aside from the fact that summer was coming and winter would not be for a few months... Sigh.

 

Cherry just grunts in response to your words. You turn your head to him, watching him rub his left arm. You furrow your brows at his odd behavior. He’s been holding his arm for a while now, looking away. 

 

“You okay?” You ask him. 

 

“Yeah, sure.” He responds quickly, which wasn’t exactly normal of him. 

 

“Is something wrong?”

 

“No.”

 

“...Something on your mind?”

 

“I said ‘m fine.” He raised his little voice a bit, frustration at the repetition growing. 

 

“Your body language points differently.” You explain your source of worry, still pressing the matter. 

 

“Nch...What?” He looks down at himself. His hand drops from his arm into his lap as soon as he noticed the possibly worrying gesture.

 

“Are you scared about something?” 

 

“’m fine, damn it! Why do you gotta keep fuckin’ askin’!” He finally yells, glaring daggers up at you. 

 

You take a breath and slowly exhale, holding onto the small item of clothing for your bitty.

“Fine.” You respond and go to look around for a cart or a basket to do your shopping. “Let me know if something  _ is _ wrong, though.” You add as you walk back to the front of the store... You just wanted to help the little one as much as you could. Your path takes you towards the small shopping baskets. You grab one and place down the small article of clothing, before going on your way.

 

“Whatever.” He simply grunts out, ignoring whatever else you had to say to him.

 

With that abrupt ending to the conversation, you finished up your shopping. You would like to take Cherry home as soon as possible, but... You still needed to buy food. Or, ya know, everyone would starve. 

Heading down the isles, crossing off some stuff from the list you didn’t have, you just picked up what you thought and knew you needed. Like this large candy bar. Definitely needed that. As you cross down the candy aisle, you spot a young couple. Both girls. One of them has a small Sansy bitty on their shoulder, and the other has a lil bro. A cute combination for sure... If only you could afford two bitties. Or had gotten one that even got along with others.

 

You smile, saying hello to them as you walk by. The couple and their bitties wave in a small motion, saying hello in return. Cherry just growls towards the four of them, his arms crossed tighter. 

 

“Stupid...” He grumbled as you look to him for an explanation. 

 

“Why? Because they were a gay couple?” You ask, turning your head to him with a small frown tugging on your lips.

 

“What? I don’t give a shit ‘bout that, it’s their fuckin’ bitties. Sansies are assholes.” He answered, avoiding your suspicious gaze. 

 

“Really? I always thought Sansys were pretty cool.” You say, picking up a small bag of large marshmallows and gingerly placing them atop the eggs you had in your basket. 

 

“Yeah, ‘til ya get to know them. They’re assholes and like ta pull stupid ass pranks... And he doesn’t pull that shit half-assed either.” 

 

You blink. “He?” This oddly didn’t seem like a generalization anymore...

 

“They.”

 

You hum in response and decide to push it, in case it was something. “But you just said ‘he’.”

 

“Well, it ain’t what I fuckin’ meant,” Cherry said adamantly, glaring at you for a moment before turning his sight away.

 

You have a sneaking suspicion that he’s not telling you something now. Of course, you knew there were things he wanted to keep to himself. Just like you did, but something seemed off. Like whatever he was hiding was eating him up inside, and it was something he didn’t feel comfortable talking about. You wished you could find a way to gain his trust. Unfortunately, trust isn’t an easy thing to obtain. You’ll just have to hope and wait for it, even if it may not ever come.

 

You head down a few shelves stocked head to toe with canned food, which morphed into small meals like spaghetti or ravioli. Then to small snacks like mini sausages, or even tuna. You picked up a package of the tuna for some salad. It could even go good on toast with pickles... Yum. 

You turn to your bitty and take an extra package before placing it into your basket. Sometimes it slipped your mind that you would need more food than usual to make up for the extra... Person, who ate half the food of a normal human, maybe??? Was there math for this? How much extra food would you need?! Oh gosh.

 

As you spot the frozen aisle, you were tempted to buy ice cream here and now, but you still had other items on your list, so you decide to leave it be for now. You walk past, humming softly as you think about what flavor you would get. 

 

Down in produce, you decided that you wanted some watermelon. With it starting to get a tad hotter, the juice would be happily welcomed. As you sift through the large box halfway filled with the large green fruit, you feel your bitty shift, as if he was trying to watch you better. You turn your head to look at the little guy resting on your shoulder.    
  


“Can I help you?”

 

“What are ya doin’?” He questioned, watching you roll all the melons over to reveal some white undersides.

 

“I’m checking to see if they’re ripe or not.” You answer, picking up a smaller melon and putting it to your ear before flicking it with your finger. You grumble and place it back with the others, mentally marking it as unfit. 

 

“...What?” Cherry looks at your face, looking utterly confused by your antics. He would never understand humans, not in a million years. You turn to him and pull him from your shoulder. You must’ve caught him off guard because he doesn’t bite you immediately. You take the moment to quickly but delicately place him on a stack of watermelon.

 

“Not sure if it’s correct, but this normally works for me... If you roll over a watermelon, you can tell if it’s ripe if the underside looks kinda like a whitish yellow. Or like butter.” You explain, turning over another fruit, bigger than the one you previously held. This one looked much more promising, the shade is closer to what you were looking for. That, and it was bigger, so more food. Win-win. All it needed was some beer salt and it would be perfect. But first, to check if it was ripe with the tried and true sound method! 

 

He looked at the one he was sitting on, seeing as it looked more white than the one you picked up. Cherry still didn’t get it. He looked up to you.

“Why are ya flickin’ it?” He questioned, carefully getting to his feet to get a better vantage.

 

You hold the heavy fruit in your hands, adjusting your grip and explaining to the small bitty, who would probably never use this information in his entire life. “Another way to tell if it’s ripe is to knock or flick it. Normally ripe ones will sound kinda hollow and have a lower sound. Unripe watermelons normally have a higher pitched sound.” You say with a small smile. That was something your mother had told you when you were younger and on shopping trips with her. 

 

He frowned and crossed his arms. “Why does it matter if it’s ripe ‘er not?” He continued further, staring at the oblong shaped fruit in your arms. 

 

“Ripe melons taste sweeter. Ones that aren’t ripe, half the time, taste sour and completely different. It’s a weird and acquired taste, I prefer sweet ones.” You answer and look around for a cart. If you put this in your basket, it’ll get a little too heavy for you to comfortably carry. It would probably end up breaking your eggs and you still needed to pick up some milk after this. 

 

“Oh…” You hear him from behind you as your eyes look around for an exit... Or maybe a stray cart someone just left behind. It was inconsiderate to leave them behind for the workers to wrangle, so in taking it for yourself and returning it later, you were both doing a good deed and transporting your food!

 

Today though, you spotted nothing and gave a heavy sigh before placing the heavy fruit into your basket, after maneuvering some of your other items to make room. You use the watermelon box as some sort of table to help aid you as you place the fruit into the plastic box. “Alright, let’s go look for a cart then we can head home.” You extend your hand to him before taking it back when his scowl tightens the closer you got to him. 

 

You drop your arm and stand still to let him do his teleport shortcut thing. That seemed to make him a little more comfortable if he came to you. Whatever works you suppose. After a few seconds, he’s gone in a small red poof and you feel the little tiny weight appear on your shoulder. Once you were sure that he secured himself, you grabbed your heavy basket and walked off in search for a cart, feeling the tiredness building up in your arm as you went along. Darn lactic acid... Curse you, biology!

 

As you walk down a few rows of shelves, you smile in relief as you find the entrance filled with the metal carts. That small walk had already started to hurt your hands. Once you pull out a cart, you lazily place the entire basket into it. After that you push your cart back in the direction of the ice cream aisle, feeling like treating yourself after this dreadful shopping trip.

 

During your trek, you heave a sigh when you hear the familiar sound of a screaming and crying child. A child that was fairly close by, and turning over the opposite shoulder Cherry was on, you see that the crying child just entered the store with his mother. Of course, it wouldn’t be a shopping trip without a shrieking child  _ somewhere _ .

 

You roll your eyes and turn your head back forward, shrugging your shoulders a bit in annoyance as the squealing got louder and higher pitched. You walk faster as to get away from the child as quickly as you possibly could. You did not want to be here any longer than you needed to be, both for yours and your bitty’s sakes. 

 

A frown forms on your face when he seems like the sound isn’t getting any softer. They better no be going in the same direction as you, or you’ll be pissed. Why must moms not give a shit if their child is screaming bloody murder? You hate entitled people. Especially ones with literal infants. In stores even more so. People were so disrespectful. The world needs a new plague. 

 

“Shut that fuckin’ kid up….” Cherry muttered from your shoulder. So it seems that he agrees with your ideations.

 

“I wish someone would.” You whisper back, not wanting the mom to hear you over the impossibly loud crying. Knowing those kinds of people, she would probably go off on you for saying such a thing.

 

“They’re too fuckin’ loud...” He spoke softly. Though, his voice was similar to one that would be crying, or close to it. His tone wavering slightly. You look over and notice him hugging his head, curling up as close to the fetal position he could get without falling off. 

 

You looked around and push your cart with you as you take a left towards the bathrooms. You know it’ll be quite there, as the mother and their screeching brat went the other direction, probably to go annoy someone else in the store. You push your cart to the wall and take a seat on one of the waiting benches outside of the actual stalls. Your eyes are glued to the bitty that continued to hug his skull.

 

“Cherry?” You say, worry building up in the forefront of your mind. 

 

“Shut up!” He seems to gag on air and tightens his hold on his head, little hands balled up into fists. “...‘M gonna be sick... Urhg... Fuck…” He groaned a bit at the discomfort in his metaphorical belly.

 

You quickly hop into action. Your hand carefully, yet quickly snatches Cherry up and you head into the women’s restroom. Sure, he’s a male bitty, but if mothers can bring their boy kids in, it shouldn’t matter. That, and he was a bitty??? Who knows what he identifies as, man. 

 

You slide your way in, past a woman who gave you an odd look, and head to the sinks lined up against the wall. You were thankfully quick enough to put Cherry close to the edge while holding him before he puked. He coughs and hacks up what looks something like blood, in your opinion. But it’s much lighter, and not nearly as thick. It’s some of Cherry’s magic. Probably a bitty equivalent to vomit. Their anatomy was so different it was a bit bamboozling...

 

You stay quiet, and thankfully so do any of the other ladies in the restroom as your bitty continues to be sick, pouring the contents of his stomach into the sink. Your worry over the little guy grows with every second and you try to keep yourself from shaking too much. After all, you weren’t the sick one here. Your thumb moves on its own, rubbing his back gently. He’s probably too numb, or awful feeling, to even notice since he doesn’t react to the action. 

 

After a few tense seconds which turned into maybe a few minutes, you carefully pull a napkin from the dispenser on the wall and lift it to Cherry’s face, carefully wiping away any magical residue on his mouth. 

He doesn’t show any aggression towards your actions, so you continue in trying to help make him more comfortable. You toss the dirty paper into the trash can and slowly turn a knob to run the water, washing away the red magic. Cherry reacts this time, curling into himself before he slowly relaxes. 

 

You take another napkin off the wall, using the water to wet it and carefully wipe Cherry’s face off again. You catch a tired, but yet still somehow intense, glare. You don’t stop and continue to clean his face. You notice in the reflection of the mirror a few ladies are staring. Maybe Cherry was glaring at them and not you, you hope, subconsciously. 

 

You turn the water off and carefully pull your bitty to your chest. Not a word is said as you head to the exit. You make sure you don’t hear the screaming devil child nearby before booking it for the rest of the remaining aisles. Cherry stays in one of your hands as you go to the cart holding all of your items. With a push, the shopping trip continues and concludes, more silent than ever. 

 

Coming to check out resorted in you using a coupon and having a sluggish Cherry limp against your thumb. You can’t tell if he’s too weak to be grumpy, or if he’s actually comfortable with what you’re doing. You’re quick to pay and make your way out of the store. You take the metal cart to your car, pack your stuff up with it, and you start your journey home. You’ll think twice next time about asking Cherry to go on a shopping trip with you... And after all that, you had forgotten your ice cream. :(

 

“‘M sorry….” A little mumble accompanies you as you drive...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I horrible with updates? Yes. Am I happy with this chapter? Yes.
> 
> Should you comment? Yes


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